YuGiOh: Rise of Arcadia
by HeroSpirit
Summary: The Satellite and New Domino City have jointed together, and the Arcadia Movement is under new management ever since Syer mysteriously disappeared. However, what will happen to poor novice duelist Haru Fuki when he's invited to join this corporation?
1. Chapter 1: Beginning of a Legend

Yu-Gi-Oh: Raise of Arcadia

Chapter 1: Beginning of a Legend

HeroSpirit: "Well this is my first attempt at a yu-gi-oh fanfic. I wasn't sure how I was going to do it at first, but I've been reading some others and I'm pretty sure I can do it now."

Haru: "I hope so for your sake."

HeroSpirit: "Quite Haru! You haven't been introduced yet!"

The year is 2023, the world has changed a lot in the past few years. Ever since the incident with the Satellite and New Domino City finally coming together, people have finally prospered. The residents of Satellite have moved into New Domino, and people are working to rebuild the Satellite as we speak. It's about time too, after so many years of living apart, we can finally come together.

I'm Haru Fuki, a resident of New Domino City. I know all of this is rather confusing, but trust me, if you stay with me long enough, everything will come into perspective.

"I'm telling you, Marauding Captain is way better than Nova Summoner in terms of special summoning." Riley sighed as we were on our way home.

"No way! Nova Summoner lets you special summon a monster when it's destroyed, and Marauding Captain is just going to get destroyed anyway with such low attack points." Riley's twin brother, Ryo replied by shaking his head. My friends were talking about a game known as Duel Monsters. Believe it or not, Duel Monsters was the most popular sport in this point of time. Duel Monsters is a card game financed by a company called Kaiba Corp. A multi-billion dollar company for various reasons. I mean for one, when the company was already at the top of the charts it was taken over by a financial genius named Seto Kaiba. This was about the time that duel monsters just started to take off, and when Kaiba took advantage of this by making products to go with them, it made him a very fine amount of money ranging in the billions.

"Guys! Can we stop talking about that dumb argument for just a second! My birthday is tomorrow, and we still need to stop by the game shop and get a new booster pack of duel monsters cards before they're sold out!" I interrupted. As my statement implied, Duel Monsters is a trading card game. Yes, I know what you're thinking. A trading card game as a major world sport? Well it was true.

"Get real man, there's no way there are any more left, that booster pack set was released 2 days ago." Ryo admitted. Yes, Duel Monsters was really that popular. I dropped my head in disappointment, I thought to myself that Ryo was most likely right. Booster packs always contained a few random cards that may or may not be useful to you, but if they were the money you spent on the booster packs was worth it. My friends and I continued our walk back home, I was still thinking about my birthday tomorrow, this would be my 15th, and I knew that somehow, this one was going to be different than all the others.

"We're home!" Ryo and Riley said in unison. The three of us looked around the house, nobody was to be found.

"Looks like your parents are still on that business trip." I observed from the emptiness of my friend's house. Which was technically speaking my house too. I lived together with my twin friends and their parents due to my lack of them. My parents went completely missing when I was just a baby, and my other relatives were nowhere to be found. My only other option was to go to an orphanage, but Ryo and Riley's family decided to house me instead. Even though they haven't legally adopted me, the New Domino City's child services allowed it. Although the problem is the twin's parents are never really around. Both of them are usually on business trips all around the world, but they tend to stop by once and a while to check up on us, it was irresponsible yes, but it was just the way it had to be.

"Maybe our parents will just stop by and drop off a gift for you." Riley theorized. I doubted it, Ryo and Riley's parents wouldn't take time from their extremely busy job for something like that.

"Maybe. It'd be incredible if I got a Duel Monsters deck though. That'd be awesome." I dreamed. Believe it or not, I had to be the only child in the whole world without a Duel Monsters deck. Everyone had their own cards and about half of those people even got their own duel disk. For those who don't know, duel disks are required for an official game of Duel Monsters. Duel disks were used to project holograms of the monsters on the Duel Monsters cards, giving it an extremely realistic feel to it. Kaiba Corp. brand duel disks revolutionized the way the game was played, making it that much more popular.

"Maybe, it's been awhile now, but this year may be your year." Ryo preached. I knew that he was trying to be optimistic for both our sakes, but I just didn't see it happening.

Allow me to skip ahead just a bit to the next morning, as I'm sure you're anxious to guess what happened on the morning on my birthday. You see, as I awoke from my; or rather all of our bedrooms. I sat up and rubbed my eyes slightly before sliding my feet towards the end of the bed. I couldn't hear anything, and nobody was in the room besides me. Which of course was rather unusual, considering I was always the first one up at this hour.

"Hello?" I called as I looked down the hallway in which was empty. I sighed at this, knowing that any second Riley and Ryo were going to yell surprise or something like that. I turned the corner of the hall into the living room, only to see two people yelling:

"Surprise!" I heard the twin brothers yell. I looked around the living room which was now covered with colorful streamers, confetti, party favors and a bunch of ripped up wrapping paper on the floor.

"_How did I know..."_

"I appreciate this guys, thanks." I gratefully replied. Even though it wasn't much of a party, it's the thought that counted. "Your parents are still gone, I'm guessing?"

"Yeah, but they flew in a gift!" Riley grinned, taking a box from behind the couch. The box was cardboard, and it had an official Kaiba Corp. logo on it. It looked about as big as an average guitar case.

"Your parents flew this over? Are you guys sure it's for me?" I asked as I loomed over this mysterious box.

"Well considering it arrived on your birthday, I think it's a safe bet." Ryo chuckled, leaning on the couch now staring at the box.

"Come on Haru! Open it up!" Riley impatiently ordered. I took a second to examine the box and slowly peel away the tape that was sealing it. Once the minutes I spent struggling to do this were past, I slowly opened up the box to see a bunch of styrofoam pellets inside the box, obviously keeping something either fragile, small, or both.

I dug my hands into the box to find what I was supposed to be finding. The box itself was so deep that the styrofoam went about half-way up my forearm as my hand hit the bottom of the box. I scanned my hand over and around this container to continue my search. Once I felt something hard I arched my eyebrow.

"I think I got it." I claimed as I tried to find a spot on the mysterious object where I could grip it. It seemed rather circular though. As I pulled it outward, I couldn't believe what I saw.

It was a large circular disk that was about two or three inches thick, like some sort of miniature UFO. It had markings on it that made it look futuristic and a single black box was imbedded in the very middle of it. Five yellow thick stripes riddled one of the disk's sides.

"What is it?" Ryo curiously asked as he got off the couch and took to the floor so he could get a better look at this device. I felt my hand across this strange thing and felt on the yellow stripes.

"_Could these be... buttons?"_

I had to test this thought as I pressed down on the far left of these so called "buttons". What happened next completely amazed me. As I pressed this button, a small door revealed itself on the side of the disk, popping out a small box with an open top. Another one of these compartments revealed themselves on another side in which was a full 90 degrees away from the first one. This nearly made me flinch as I struggled to keep hold of this thing as I heard whirring and buzzing inside it. Suddenly, a small, square, sheet of metal that was about half an inch thick shoot out of another side of the disk and slid itself around about 90 degrees until it was directly in front of one of the revealed compartments. What happened next was the sheet of metal extended itself outward to reveal more sheets of metal that were tucked into the original. This happened twice on both sides of the metal until it extended to about a foot and a half wide. Several lights began to turn on and one red arrow pointing downward suddenly appeared on each of the sheets that had popped out. That's when I realized...

"It's a duel disk..." I gasped. Examining this marvel further as it completed it's transformation. "This is the new K-12 model! I saw this on a Kaiba Corp commercial!"

"Dude! That's awesome!" Ryo admired suddenly snatching the device from my hand and examining it. "I'd like to try this out sometime, it looks pretty lightweight. My disk is so heavy it makes my arm sore." he complained. Riley didn't seem too thrilled about this device that came from the box though. In fact he looked troubled.

"Yo Riles, you ok?" I asked him as he snapped out of his troubled expression.

"Yeah, I guess. What I don't understand is why mom and dad would give you a duel disk when you don't have any cards." Riley realized. I hadn't thought of this yet, and I guess he had a point. The duel disk was useless without a duel monsters deck, and that was the one thing I was short of.

"Maybe they didn't know, and even if they didn't, it's the thought that counts." Ryo reminded as he strapped my gift to his wrist just to see how it felt.

"Hey hey hey careful with that! That's an expensive disk!" I nagged the more reckless counterpart of the twins. Ryo was known for pushing things until they broke, it was something that I both admired and hated about him.

"Relax man, I'm just seeing how it feels, and I was right, it's really lightweight!" he smiled as he waved it around on his wrist with ease. I hadn't even know the duel disk had a wrist strap until now, as it wasn't visible in it's standby mode.

"Just give it back man, I really don't feel comfortable with you playing with it." I sighed as I caught a glimpse of Riley searching the box that the duel disk came from. "Hey Riles, what are you doing?"

"Looking for anything else that may have came with the disk, maybe mom and dad got you a deck to go with the duel disk or something. I'm pretty sure they knew that you didn't have a deck." Riley responded, suddenly quitting his search and scratching his head. "I didn't find anything though, all I found was the instruction manuel."

"_That figures."_

"Well look on the bright side, if you can't use it, it'll give me some time to try it myself." Ryo joked. To be honest though, I was having trouble hearing as one.

"Look man, I know it's just me, but-." I started, but my sentence was interrupted by a ring of the doorbell. All three of us looked to the door down the hall.

"I'll get it." Riley insisted as he ran to it. He came back only minutes later with a small, pocket-sized cardboard box.

"What cha' got there?" Ryo asked slightly impatiently. Riley examined the box a little and scratched his head.

"It's a package for Haru, but there's no return address or anything. There isn't even an address that tells where this package is supposed to go. How the mailman got it here is beyond me." Riley sighed as he handed it to me. On the cardboard box I saw only a few words poorly written in black marker. The words read _To: Mr. Haru Fuki._ and nothing else. The only other thing I saw on the box was a strange marking that looked like some sort of...lantern? Yeah, it looked like an old oil lantern that folks used to use way back in the day. The lantern had a small crack in it with a flame flickering inside. That's all I saw though. I began to open the mysterious box that I wasn't even sure I was supposed to be opening. The tape was easier to peel off than the last, so I was able to completely open it in a matter of seconds.

"_You're kidding me"_

This is what I thought as I saw what was in the small box. There, inside, was a neatly stacked full package of duel monsters cards. I could tell from the dull red backs with the black oval on the back of them along with a dull yellow boarder. The backs of these cards were oh so familiar, and I nearly lost my balance as I saw them. I've been dreaming of owning some of these cards for my entire life.

"Dude, you look real pale, you ok?" Ryo asked a little concernedly as he helped me keep my balance, once he caught a glimpse of what was in the box though, he freaked. "No way! You got a deck of duel monsters cards?"

"You're kidding me." Riley gasped.

"_Exactly what I was thinking."_

"How... how did you get a deck of cards? Who sent you them?" Riley continued as he peered into the box.

"I don't know. Like you said, there's no return address, no signature, no nothing. They didn't even leave a note." I examined. I took the full deck out of the box. The deck weighted like it was about a 50 card deck, give or take, and I saw at the top of this deck was a strange looking monster.

"_Halo... Kuriboh?"_

That's what the card at the top of the stack said. Halo Kuriboh. It showed a picture of a little furry puff ball with brown fur and stubby little green appendages. A little white glowing halo was above this monster's head, and a beam of light shined upon it in it's picture like it was some sort of god. I'll say this though, when I looked at the card's stats, it was a weak little thing. Why, it only had 300 attack points and a measly 200 defense points. The thing was useless!

"I don't like the looks of this guys. If there's no sending or return address, how can we be sure that the deck was meant for you?" Riley interjected.

"How many "Haru Fuki"s can there be in New Domino City Riles! Come on, I say we test the deck out." Ryo suggested. I went wide eyed at this as I took my eyes off the deck.

"Wow wow wow, are you sure dueling is a good idea? I haven't even looked at any of these cards and I don't know what kind of cards I have! I don't even know if this is a full deck!" I tried to reason, but Ryo wouldn't hear a word of it. He wanted to see what kind of deck I had, and he wanted to see it right now.

"It'll be fine Haru! All you have to do is wing it and go with the flow, you'll learn how to use that deck in no time flat!" Ryo insisted as he dragged me by my arm out into the backyard. There was where he made me stand and put on my duel disk as he went inside to grab his disk and deck. I saw Riley coming outside to watch us with an uncertain expression. Not only did I not trust how this deck got to my doorstep, but I also didn't trust it in the fact that it could win. Why, there wasn't a doubt in both Riley's or my own mind that the duel that was about to happen wasn't a good idea.

HeroSpirit: "Well, I hope this first attempt at a yu-gi-oh fanfic pleases everyone."

Haru: "I'm sure it will, even if the duel hasn't started yet."

Ryo: "It'll be epic though! My deck is going to rule!"

HeroSpirit: "I haven't even made your deck yet."

Ryo: "My point still stands!"


	2. Chapter 2: Let's Duel!

Yu-gi-oh: Rise of Arcadia

Chapter 2: Let's Duel!

HeroSpirit: "I'd like to warn the fans straight up, you should probably be able to understand the game of duel monsters before you read this, as I don't want to spend much time explaining the rules if not none at all."

Haru: "I donno what you're worried about, they wouldn't be reading if they didn't get it."

HeroSpirit: "Good point."

As Ryo leaped out of the house with his duel disk on his arm, he stood about a few yards away from me and slid his deck into the compartment.

"You ready for this?" he asked, clearly excited.

"I guess so." I sighed, taking the mysterious deck I had just received and sliding it into the appropriate slot. I still wasn't sure about this. I had never dueled before. I watched Ryo duel a few times, but that was it.

"Let's duel!" Ryo and I both said in unison as our duel disks activated, revealing our life point count in the black boxes atop of them.

**Haru: **4000 LP

**Ryo: **4000 LP

"I'll go first!" Ryo insisted as he took two cards from his hand of five and placed them into a couple of slots under his duel disk. "I'll set two cards face down, and summon this!" he proudly proclaimed as he slammed another card onto a slot located under the monster card zones. "I summon, Swordsman of the Guild! (1500ATK/1300DEF)"

It was then a brightly colored blue circle appeared in between us. The circle appeared to act as a portal as a man carrying a giant sword suddenly flew out of it and landed gracefully upon Ryo's side of the field. This sword-wielding man wore metal chain armor and a purple tabard with a bright white eye looking symbol in the middle of the tabards chest. I couldn't help but think that his giant two handed sword looked menacing. "I'll end my turn from there."

"Fine then, my move!" I called as I drew a card from my deck, that was about the time when I realized something... I didn't know how to conduct a turn. I looked at my hand confused. Was I suppose to set spell cards first or summon a monster? I looked over to Ryo and then over to Riley on the sidelines. I think it was Riley who knew what kind of trouble I was having. He face palmed and leaned a little forward.

"Relax Haru, I'll take you through it! First is your draw phase, in which you draw from your deck and add the card to your hand." Riley started.

"Already did that, now what."

"Next is your standby phase. Your standby phase is a small pause that you take to examine the cards in your hand to see what you can do with them. After the standby phase is your _first_ main phase. Your main phase is when you can normal summon a monster, cast spell cards, or reveal face down trap cards." Riley continued. I nodded to him and examined my hand. I first had to go through the standby phase of my turn before I went to my main phase.

"_My god, you're kidding me."_

My hand contained three different monster cards, a couple of spells, and a trap card. That wasn't what necessarily bothered me though. What bothered me was the monsters that were in my hand. Each monster looked somewhat familiar, but this was because they all looked the same. Each monster that was in my hand looked like a little brown puff ball with those green appendages sticking out and those huge beady eyes.

"_They all look like that one monster I saw, Halo Kuriboh, was it?"_

Regardless of this, I examined all the monster's stats, each one only had 300 attack points and 200 defense points. All the same stats for every single one of them. I didn't understand, my hand was full of weaklings!

"Hey man, can you make your move today, please?" Ryo impatiently sighed as he tapped his foot waiting for me to play something. I sighed, if I didn't play a monster he was going to attack me directly next turn, and I didn't want that to happen.

"_Right then, time to start my main phase!"_

"Fine then, I summon...Winged Kuriboh! (300ATK/200DEF)" I called as I slammed the card onto the monster card slot of the duel disk. My disk began to glow, and another bright blue portal opened in the center of the battle field only to have a tiny little puff ball fly out and precariously hover over to my side of the field. This puff ball was only different than the others in the fact that it had two tiny angel wings sticking out of it's back, and it was only slightly bigger than a human fist. I saw Ryo begin to laugh.

"Dude, what the heck is THAT thing? Was that the best thing in your hand?" Ryo heckled. He started to laugh historically at my tiny monster, and I couldn't help but blush as the Winged Kuriboh started to struggle around and growl as though it had actually heard Ryo talking.

"Relax Haru, now that you summoned a monster, you can cast spell cards or reveal trap cards. If you don't want to do that, you go on to your battle phase. Your battle phase is when you can command you monsters to attack." Riley explained.

"_This fur ball definitely can't battle, so I think I'll skip that one."_

"If you skip your battle phase, you go onto your _second_ main phase. This is when you can activate any last minute spells or traps. This is also when you can summon a monster if you didn't do so in your _first_ main phase. All that's left after that is your end phase, in which you just end your turn." Riley finished.

"Just go man! It's your move." I sighed as I ended my turn.

"_Great, I'm off to a bad start already. This little thing I have on my field is in attack mode, so I'll take damage once it's destroyed, and I don't have any cards that will help me save it."_

"My move then!" Ryo smiled as he drew his card. He placed it into his hand and drew out another card. "I activate the spell card, Trivial Slot!" Ryo shouted as he held up a green colored card and slapped into into a magic card slot. A large flat hologram of a green card with a picture of a slot machine spinning around in the middle of the card appeared beside Ryo. "With this card, I can have you guess what one of my face down cards are. If you guess right, I discard two cards and lose 500 life points, but if you guess wrong, I can draw two cards." he explained as he pointed to his face down card on the far right. "Now guess. Is it a spell or trap card?"

I had to think fast. I had no way of knowing what kind of card he laid down, but I had a fifty fifty shot of guessing right. After all it could only be a spell or trap card.

"I guess it's... a trap!" I replied. Ryo only smiled at this, and reached for his deck.

"Wrong, which means I draw two more cards." he repeated as he sent his recently casted spell card to the graveyard and placed the cards he drew into his hand. The large hologram vanished and Ryo continued his move.

"_How can it get any worse."_

"Next, I'll have my Swordsman of the Guild attack your Kuriboh!" Ryo called forth as the hologram of the swordsman began to brace itself.

"_Me and my big mouth."_

The swordsman hologram from before leaped into the air, and as the Winged Kuriboh began to panic as he approached, the sword of the swordsman soon clashed with my monster. Only to have my Kuriboh shatter to bits like it were literally made of glass. The swordsman leaped back as the smoke left from the attack began to clear.

"Ha! Eat that!" Ryo cheered as he gave a thumbs up to his swordsman. I checked my life point counter to see how many points I lost, but something was wrong.

"_Huh? I didn't lose any life points."_

I checked my duel disk to see if it was broken or something, but that's when I saw the card of the Winged Kuriboh card that was still on the disk beginning to glow.

"Ah! I see, I didn't know that little puff ball had a special ability." I smiled to myself quietly as I took the card off the tray and read the effect's text which was located on the card.

"Hey Haru, is your disk busted or something? I'm not getting any readings of lost points from you." Ryo called to me tapped his foot impatiently. I had just gotten done reading my monster's effect, and I smiled.

"That's because of my Winged Kuriboh's special ability. You see, on the turn it's destroyed, I don't take any battle damage!" I proudly proclaimed. I was so lucky to have a monster with an effect like that, because it saved me a lot of points. I sent my recently used Kuriboh card to the graveyard and looked back at Ryo, who looked slightly annoyed by my move.

"Aright then, fine! I'll enter my second main phase and activate this! Guildmaster's Chrest!"

Another green card hologram appeared beside Ryo, with a picture of the symbol that looked similar if not identical to the symbol that was on Ryo's swordsman's tabard. "With this spell card, as long as I have a guild monster on my field, I can special summon a tuner monster from my hand!"

"A...tuner monster?" I quirked. I only new so much about this game, and tuner monster only seemed slightly familiar.

"A tuner monster is a card that can be used in combination with another monster to preform a synchro summon. A synchro summon is a special summon that can be preformed to summon a really powerful card with certain effects." Riley enlightened with a surprised expression on his face. I guess he was just as awe struck as I was that Ryo had a tuner monster in his deck.

"That's right! Lucky for me, I have a tuner monster right here! I summon... Troubadour of the Guild! (1000ATK/300DEF)" Ryo called forth as he slapped down another monster card into an empty slot. Another blue portal opened in the middle of the battlefield only to have fly out a small teenage boy in medieval clothing carrying a... variety of a violin of some sort. I don't know, it looked like a miniature violin. This small boy had a tabard on his chest exactly like Ryo's swordsman as well, which figures considering their card names. "Unfortunately though, my Guildmaster's Chrest spell card doesn't let me synchro summon on the turn that my tuner monster is summoned, so it's your move." Ryo sighed as he ended his turn.

"Ok Haru, focus, in the next turn, you're going to have a synchro monster to deal with. You need to figure out a way around this."

I commenced my draw phase and drew a card from my deck, and went into my standby phase to see what I could do. I looked at the card I just drew, and went wide eyed.

"_Hello, what do we have here."_

"I set one card face down on the field, and summon Kuriboh in attack mode! (300ATK/200DEF)" I claimed as I slotted in a trap card into the appropriate card zone and slapped down the monster card onto my monster card zone. A blue portal opened in the middle of the field to have a small brown puff ball similar to my first monster fly out and hover around on my side of the field. This particular puff ball didn't have anything special about it, which lead me to believe that this was the first Kuriboh card ever to be created. I smiled at this, and Ryo started to laugh.

"Another fur ball? Come on man, give me a little bit of a challenge here!" Ryo scolded. I couldn't help but chuckle at this, as he had no idea as to what I was about to do.

"_I had my doubts about this deck at first, but I think I understand the strategy behind it now."_

I thought this as I took another card from my hand and held it up.

"Next I activate the spell card... Multiply!" I called as I slotted in the spell card into the duel disk. A green card hologram with a picture of a yellowish colored devil dividing itself in the middle of the card appeared on my field. "With this spell card, I can tribute my Kuriboh for a few new monsters."

"A few...new monsters?" Ryo questioned. I nodded.

"With this card, I can sacrifice my Kuriboh for five new monsters actually, and these monsters are called... Kuriboh Tokens! (300ATK/200DEF)" I smiled. The spell card's hologram suddenly shot out a lightning bolt of energy at my Kuriboh hologram, and with this my Kuriboh was destroyed. Soon after though, Kuribohs began to pop out of the spell card as though it were another portal. These Kuribohs were slightly different, however, as they all looked gold colored rather than have the same coatings as the original. The spell card produced these new tokens until five of them existed on my fiend, taking up all my monster card zones.

"Congratulations, Haru, you now have five useless monsters instead of one." Ryo heckled. I shook my head at this.

"What you call useless, I call just what I need." I called back as I slotted in another spell card. "Because now I activate the spell card, Kuriclone!" I cried out. Another spell card appeared on my fiend with a picture of two Kuriboh monsters in little test tubes, and the card began to glow. "With this, I can take a Kuriboh monster with the same name as another Kuriboh monster that was recently destroyed from my deck to my hand." I explained. I looked down in the deck slot of my duel disk to see it shuffling itself on it's own. The deck began to randomize itself placing random sections of cards onto another for a few seconds, and once it stopped, the deck remained still with one card slightly extended further than the others at the top of the deck. I took this top card out to see it was the Kuriboh card I was about to fish out.

"_Wow, smart duel disk."_

I placed this card into my hand to see it was another plain Kuriboh card, the same type that was destroyed previously, I placed this card into my hand and gave a sigh of relief.

"I end my turn from there." I informed as Ryo drew from his deck.

"My move then." he said a little obviously.

"_This is great, I have five monsters ready and waiting for Ryo's synchro monster to come into play. This will give me enough time to think of a good counter."_

"I activate the spell card, Pan of the Poor!" Ryo claimed as a spell card hologram appeared beside him with a picture of a homeless woman holding out a bowl full of small change. "With this spell card, I can drew two extra cards from my deck so long as I give up one of the cards I draw to the graveyard." he explained as he drew from his deck, and took a moment to examine what he just obtained. After a little deliberation, he threw one of these cards to his graveyard and held up the other to me. "Just what I needed! I activate General's War Cry!"

"Huh?" I gasped, taking a step back.

"Thanks to this handy spell card, all monsters on the field are forced into attack mode!" Ryo informed as he slapped it down into his duel disk and a hologram of the card appeared on the field. This hologram of the spell card shoot bolts of energy from itself, and struck all five of my tokens which were originally in defense mode. As I saw all of them suddenly rise, these tokens of mine suddenly all looked vicious, and ready for battle.

"_This isn't good, all my tokens only have 300 attack points, if Ryo attacks any of them with his monsters I'm in for a hit!"_

As I saw Ryo smile at this move of his, he lifted his finger to point it at one of my Kuriboh tokens.

"Now Swordsman of the Guild, attack Haru's Kuriboh Token!" he commanded as his swordsman braced itself, and leaped into the air with his sword above his head. The swordsman yelled as his sword clashed with my gold colored Kuriboh monster and an explosion occurred. Growled in frustration at this as the smoke cleared and I checked my life point counter.

**Haru: **2800 LP

**Ryo: **4000 LP

"Next I'll have my Troubadour of the Guild attack another token!" Ryo seemed to brag as his tuner monster leaped into the air and strummed a note on his miniature violin. These notes seemed to act as projectiles that slammed into another one of my tokens as though it were just target practice. Another explosion occurred at this destruction of my monster, and I couldn't help but think how dumb I was to think this defense would work.

**Haru:** 2100 LP

**Ryo:** 4000 LP

"Sorry man, but it doesn't end there." I heard Ryo say as the smoke cleared from the last attack. "The only reason I didn't synchro summon right away was because I knew I could do more damage this turn if I had two monsters, but now it's time to enter my second main phase and synchro summon!"

"_Oh great."_

"Now I tune my level 4 Swordsman of the Guild with my level 2 Troubadour of the Guild!" Ryo hailed as his monsters began to act. Ryo's tuner monster, his troubadour, started to glow, and suddenly shattered to only leave behind two glowing orbs in it's place. These glowing orbs suddenly darted to Ryo's swordsman and began to circle around him, making two large glowing rings. As the swordsman inside these rings began to glow, it let out a cry as the rings disappeared and a flash caused by the swordsman's glow blinded us. As I began to regain my sight, I saw a marvelous monster in the middle of the battlefield. A warrior with shining, silver, plate armor no different than a medieval knight appeared. With a shining shield that donned the guild's purple and white crest. His sword was of gold, and his helmet had angel wings upon each side of him.

"Synchro summon... Guildmaster's Guard! (2400ATK/2000DEF)" Ryo smiled as his monster retreated to his side of the field. I gasped at this. If I took another hit from that particular monster this turn, I would lose the remainder of my life points and the duel would be over.

"_Great, now that Ryo's synchro monster is on the field, what am I suppose to do?"_

"Now since I already conducted my battle phase this turn, I can't attack with Guildmaster's Guard, so it's your move." Ryo stated as he ended his turn. "Oh! By the way Haru, since you're my friend, I'll give you some advice. Don't try to switch your monsters into defense mode, because my guard does piercing damage."

"Piercing damage?" I questioned. Ryo nodded to this, and Riley, who was still watching, began to explain.

"Piercing damage is an ability that some monsters have. Basically what it does, is when the monster attacks another monster in defense mode, the difference between the attacking monster's attack points and the defending monster's defense points get deducted from the opponent's life points. Which kind of sucks because normally monsters in defense mode don't give the user any damage to it's destruction." Riley sadly explained.

"_Great, so even if I switch my tokens to defense mode I'm still dead."_

I placed my hand on the deck, knowing that next turn I would be done for if I didn't do something to at least get rid of that synchro monster. I looked over to Riley to see if he had any advice. Riley just shook his head signaling a "I have no idea" answer. I sighed, hoping this deck might have an answer.

"_Alright deck, I don't know where you came from or why I got you, but I hope you have something that can help me."_

I drew from my deck, hoping that what I just drew could at least stall my lose. I looked at the card that I just drew, and arched my eyebrow. I hadn't seen this kind of card before, so I read the text to it's effect. After reading, I gasped.

"_Oh yeah, THIS will definitely do."_

I started to chuckle, knowing the chances of drawing a card like this was at least one in thirty.

"Yo Haru, you ok? What cha' laughing at?" Ryo curiously asked. I placed the card into my hand and smiled.

"I'm laughing because I'm going to win this duel!" I confidently replied. Ryo seemed very skeptical about this.

"As much as I admire enthusiasm Haru, you have a bunch of puff balls on your field while I have a powered up synchro monster that can destroy you with one swing." Ryo reminded me, but I didn't care, because...

"These bunch of puff balls are going to kick your butt!" I remarked, taking the card I just drew from my hand and sliding it into a spell card zone. "Why you ask? Because I'm activating the spell card... March of the Meek!" A spell card hologram appeared on my field, this spell card had a picture in which had a thousand calm, collected, monks all in a mob lined up perfectly with each other. A fitting picture if you ask me.

"March of the Meek?" Ryo questioned, obviously not knowing what the card did.

"That's right! My March of the Meek spell card allows me to select a monster on your side of the field, and afterwards, all the cards on _my_ side of the field gain the same amount of attack points that the selected monster has! So Ryo, can you guess which card I'm picking?" I teased as I pointed to Ryo's synchro monster. "I select... Guildmaster's Guard as the target of my spell!"

"_With this spell giving Guildmaster's Guard's 2400 attack points to my remaining three tokens, this duel is done."_

I thought this as I saw all three of my token's attack point meters go up, and all of them acting pumped up and ready to kill something. Ryo only stood there. He knew what was next.

"Kuriboh token #1 (2700ATK/200DEF), attack Guildmaster's Guard!" I ordered as one of my golden tokens fired themselves as a projectile at my opponent's monster. The Kuriboh was like a bullet that slammed into the guard's chest and caused him to shatter like glass, and came back daintily hovering on my field

**Haru: **2100 LP

**Ryo:** 3700 LP

"Next, Kuriboh Token #2! Attack Ryo directly!" I ordered next, as the 2nd Kuriboh token did the same as the first and launched it's tiny self like a bullet and slammed itself into Ryo's stomach. Being a hologram though, it didn't hurt him. The only thing it hurt was his life points.

**Haru:** LP 2100

**Ryo:** LP 1000

"Last but definitely not least, Kuriboh Token #3, attack Ryo directly and finish this!" I ordered as the final token waged it's attack like the others, and slammed itself into Ryo's stomach, destroying what remained of his life points.

**Haru:** 2100 LP

**Ryo:** 0 LP

I sighed as the final attack was waged and I heard a buzzer noise, signaling someone had won the duel. All the holograms suddenly faded, and I walked over to Ryo, who was still in shock.

"Hey man, you ok?" I asked as I held my hand to him. Ryo snapped out of his trans-like state and smiled.

"Yeah man, good game there. I'll admit, I didn't expect to get beaten by a bunch of puff balls." he chuckled.

"They aren't puff balls, they're Kuribohs." I corrected. "At least, that's what I says on the cards anyway."

"Bravo Haru! Bravo! I had my eyes glued to the duel the entire time. I thought it was genius the way you used those monsters." Riley encouraged, patting me on the back as he approached.

"Uh... it was nothing really, I mean, I'm not sure how I did it myself." I sighed.

"Well whether you know or not, you did, and I think that's an achievement. I have to ask though, you seemed to know how to deck worked regardless of how long you spent examining it. How did you know?" Riley asked seeming intrigued. I blinked at this, not sure how to answer.

"Not sure, but I guess I just... knew." I shrugged. I slid the deck out of the duel disk, and saw the card at the top of the stack. It was that same Halo Kuriboh card, seeming to smile at me with it's mouthless face. I'm not sure how, but it did, and that definitely gave me a good vibe from this deck. Somehow I knew that this deck would take me a long way.

HeroSpirit: "Yada! My first chapter featuring a duel!"

Haru: "Pretty epic for a first one."

Ryo: "I don't get it though, why did you mean me lose?"

HeroSpirit: "Oh, I'm sorry, are you the main character?"

Ryo: "Y-...yes?"

Haru: "No."


	3. Chapter 3: A Rival's Match

Yu-gi-oh: Rise of Arcadia

Chapter 3: A Rival's Match

HeroSpirit: "Dang, I've been writing these chapters like crazy."

Haru: "Guess watching the anime again inspired you."

HeroSpirit: "Guess so, I need you in another duel."

Haru: "Bring it on! My little puff balls are ready for the challenge!"

HeroSpirit: "That didn't sound right."

"Yo Haru! Hurry up man, we're going to be late for school!" I heard Ryo call to me from the living room.

"Just hang on guys, I'm coming!" I called back, packing up my books into my backpack with a sigh. I didn't feel like going to school today. Maybe it was because of the recently cold weather, or maybe it was because I didn't feel like taking the test that our instructor promised us we'd have today. Believe it or not. I don't go to your average school. I go to Duel Academy. A prestigious school for learning the fundamentals on how to play duel monsters. It sounds stupid from your perspective, I know, but in the world that I live in, a lot of people make a lot of decent cash on the dueling circuit. You know those kids in your class who always want to grow up to be pro athletes when they grow up and make millions? In my world, all of those kids want to become pro duelists, and take on the big leagues, and that's exactly what this school was made for. The only reason I was in this school, however, was because it was free enrollment. Yes, I know what you're thinking, a prestigious school with free enrollment? That's only because the school has generous donators such as Kaiba Corp, and Master of Ilusions Inc. Of course, both companies that finance duel monster card production.

I zipped up my backpack and looked over to my bed, in which my new duel disk in which I got yesterday laid. I thought about it for a moment, and picked it up.

"_Sure, why not."_

I unzipped my backpack and stuffed my duel disk in. This _was _a dueling school I was going to, and I didn't feel like using those duel disks that are school owned. Not only did the wrist straps on those things chafe like crazy, but they were so heavy that they hurt your arm after just a few minutes of dueling. As I pocketed my newly found deck, I ran into the living room where the twins were waiting for me.

"Come on guys, we only have ten minutes to run over there!" I reminded as I rushed out the door. The school was within walking distance of our house, and it was about a 25 minute walk. However, we had to stretch those minutes into ten if we were to make it on time. The twins nodded as they were right on my tail.

After a hectic time getting to school, we made it through the door at the precise moment the bell rang. Pretty lucky if you ask me. As I stopped and leaned on the wall to rest, I could hear our instructor, Ms. Godfrey, talking to someone down the hallway. I couldn't make out what they were saying though due to my loud panting, and I didn't bother to look up because of my exhaustion.

"_I really shouldn't have brought my duel disk, it only made it harder to run fast. I mean really, my disk is suppose to be lightweight!"_

I saw Ms. Godfrey walk up to us trying to catch our breath, and we all stood upright when she approached.

"Morning children, did you construct your decks for the test today?" she asked in her usually sweet voice. Why she always calls us children I'll never know, since we're almost old enough to drive.

"You bet Ms. G, my guild cards are going to wipe the floor with whoever I match up against!" Ryo bragged. I couldn't help but chuckle at this, as I had defeated Ryo just yesterday with my deck so easily. Ms. Godfrey smiled at this, and looked over to me.

"Haru, I didn't see you take any school-owned cards home yesterday, are you going to be ok for this test? Or do you need a pre-built one?" Ms. Godfrey concernedly asked. I suppose your wondering how I was suppose to participate in this test if I didn't have a deck at the time. Well the answer is usually you play with school-owned decks and cards that are picked for you. Usually the night before a big test, the school lets you take an entire case of the cards home with you and then you spend most of the night constructing a deck of 40 cards out of the ones in that case. Why did I not take a case home yesterday you ask?... I completely spaced it out.

I was about to answer Ms. Godfrey before Ryo interrupted me.

"No worries Ms. G! Haru's got a _real_ deck now, a deck of his own!" Ryo informed. I was about to say something before Ms. Godfrey began to speak.

"Oh, really? Well that's very nice, Haru. I'm guessing you got it for your birthday?" she asked me.

"You bet he did!" Ryo once again interrupted.

"From who?"

I was expecting Ryo to answer for me again, but when he didn't I had to think of something. I couldn't just tell her it showed up on my doorstep with no sending address. That'd make it look like I stole it.

"I got it from my... great uncle in... uh... Africa..." I lied.

"_Stupid lie, stupid stupid stupid!"_

"Well that's very nice! I'm glad you'll be able to use your own deck rather than one from the school." Ms. Godfrey smiled as she started walking over to our classroom, which was about to be holding class. "Make sure you go over it and make sure it's at least or more than 40 cards!"

I couldn't help but feel guilty lying to my teacher, but harm could it have been? I have my own deck, big deal, it's not like I took it from someone. The package on the box was meant for me. It said so on it.

Thinking about the box suddenly reminded me of that symbol that I saw on the box next to my name. That broken down lantern that I saw on the box, what could it have meant anyway. I started to wonder about this, thinking it might have been a symbol for the mail company that delivered it, but then again...

"Haru, you ok?" I heard Riley suddenly ask.

"Huh? Oh yeah, why?" I replied snapping out of my thought.

"You had a worried expression on your face there for a moment." Riley pointed out.

"_Did I?"_

"Did I?" I quizzed.

"You know Haru, you should probably make sure that your deck is at least 40 cards, Ms. Godfrey won't let you duel with it in the test we're taking if you don't have at least 40." Ryo advised as we walked into the classroom, taking our seats.

"Yeah, you're probably right." I sighed as I took my deck from my pocket. I sat down in my seat waiting for the bell and started to count my cards. Although, almost immediately after I had taken it out, my deck was snatched.

"Well, what do we have here." I heard a familiar voice say. I looked up to see that Takuya was the culprit to my suddenly stolen deck.

If you looked up snob in the dictionary, you would see the definition: "a person with an exaggerated respect for high social position or wealth who seeks to associate with social superiors and dislikes people or activities regarded as lower-class". Then right next to the definition, you would see the words "See also: Takuya Nakama." Takuya was the big, pompous rich kid. His family paid for everything he wanted and more. Legend has it that Takuya's deck costs more that any of us will ever make in our lifetimes. Legend also has it that Takuya's deck is filled with cards that the Master of Illusions, AKA the creator of duel monsters, made himself. I never believed any of those rumors. A deck is a deck no matter how you look at it, and every deck can be beaten.

"I see you got yourself some new cards." Takuya snickered as his combed-back hair shined in the light that he and I were next to. "What the heck are these things? Fur balls?" he arched his eyebrow at the cards in my deck as he went through them. I immediately snatched the deck back and growled at him.

"They're called Kuribohs, and I don't need you bugging me while I'm in the middle of counting my deck, rich boy." I barked. Takuya simply stayed calm at this, and snatched the deck back, continuing to look through them.

"Look at these things! They barely have any attack points. Don't you have anything else besides these?" Takuya chuckled. I snatched my deck back once more and stuck my tongue out like some sort of immature elementary school kid.

"These 'things' are all I need. Don't you have a mirror to go to and admire yourself?" I snapped back. Takuya seemed rather aggravated by that last remark, and slid his fingers through his sleek, blond hair a little ways.

"You better hope you aren't matched up with me, loser. If you do, I'll personally wipe the floor with your weak little cards." Takuya threatened. I hoped that I wouldn't get paired up with him too, because if I did, I'm sure he'd keep his promise. I managed to shake this off though, and continue counting my cards.

I would have guessed that with a pre-built deck there would be at least 40, which was the mimimm requirement for any duel monsters deck. By the time I finished counting, the bell had rang and everyone was starting to head to their seats. Ryo sat beside me in class, and leaned over towards me.

"Well?" he asked. I scratched my head.

"It's weird, but this deck only has 39 cards in it. I counted three times over." I admitted. Ryo arched his eyebrow.

"39? You're one card short there, buddy."

"I know, do you think Ms. Godfrey will notice?"

"Probably not, it's only one card. Unless she's psychic I doubt she'll find out."

"You think so?"

"Tell you what, if you feel that bad about it, I'll give you one of my cards I have left over."

"Nah, I'm good. I just want this test to be done with."

You're probably wondering by now why we all need our decks to take a test in class. Well, this test we had today was a duel performance test. Meaning that we would all be paired up with a random classmate in our class, and then we would be graded on how well we do against them. It seemed like an unfair way to do things, as all of us have different skill levels. If I got paired up with a good duelist, I'd get a horrible grade. Then again, I'd also feel bad getting paired with a horrible duelist because I'd be making _their_ grade bad. I hoped I would get someone in which I could have an even matchup against, that way both of us would at least get a decent grade.

"Alright guys, everyone settle down, I have the match-ups for your tests today. Blocks one and two will be dueling today, and blocks three, four, and five will be dueling tomorrow." Ms. Godfrey informed as she typed a little on her computer to reveal who our opponents would be. The wide screen that took the place of a blackboard started to flicker, and showed the matches for our duel performance tests. I looked closely at the board just as Ryo did along side me, and once I found my opponent, I gasped.

"_Somehow I saw this coming."_

There right next to my class picture was Takuya's. This of course meant that I would have to duel him for my duel performance test. I started to roll back into my seat, knowing I was in for it.

"Wow Ryo, tough luck." I heard Ryo say once he found out who my opponent was. "But hey, think positive, maybe you'll beat him this time."

"I'm not going to beat him Ryo, I never beat Takuya. In my time here at Duel Academy I've dueled Takuya 11 times, and all 11 of those times I lost to him, and I lost to him horribly."

"Yeah, that's true. You have to remember though that you were using the school's cards all 11 of those times, and you may not have to worry with a deck of your own." Ryo reminded as he leaned back in his seat.

"Get real Ryo, I've only used this deck once so far, and even though I beat you with it, I beat you because you're a horrible duelist." I sighed. Ryo nearly fell out of his seat once I said this blunt remark.

"Hey! What makes you think I'm a horrible duelist!" Ryo growled at me. I looked up in front of the class, and then back at Ryo to reply.

"Tell me Ryo, how many duel performance tests have you taken at Duel Academy so far?"

"Including my retakes? I think it's 23." Ryo replied, relaxing a little.

"Now tell me how many of those performance tests you actually passed." I glared. I instantly saw Ryo blush at this.

"Um... one."

"And _what_ was the only reason you passed that test?"

"Uh...be- because... the teacher had a family emergency and had to leave early."

All I could do in response to that was nod my head. It was true, Ryo wasn't a very good duelist, but he enjoyed the game, and I had to admire his determination for it. Every time I saw him fail a duel performance test I would always have to hear him ranting about how he would blow that test out of the water next time. I couldn't think about that though, I had to think about my upcoming duel with Takuya and what I was going to do about it.

The class was given 30 minutes to adjust their decks accordingly to their opponents. That is, if you had any knowledge of your opponent's deck or if you had any extra cards to replace your current ones with. Both of which I didn't have any of.

"Hope you're ready to get slaughtered, loser." I heard Takuya snicker as he left the classroom for the duel arena. I couldn't help but shiver. Only Takuya knew what he'd do to me in a duel. Reluctantly, I got up from my seat and prepped myself for the upcoming battle that I was going to be forced to face. I sighed at this, and stood from my desk as everyone started to leave for the arena. Riley and Ryo came by my side as I walked.

"Haru, you going to be ok? You're duel is in the first block." I heard Riley ask.

"Yeah, I'll be fine, I might as well get it over with while I can." I answered, opening the door to the arena. You know how big high school gyms usually are? The duel arena was our gym. It had four separate duel spaces of you to duel on. Duel spaces are basically a bunch of white chalk lines on the floor. Each space containing 20 rectangular spaces for cards and whatnot, and a designated zone for the duelist was marked as well.

"Alright class, block one take your designated duel spaces and begin your test." I heard Ms. Godfrey instruct. I saw Takuya give a sort of evil smile at me as he made his way to the duel space where he'd be waiting for me.

I gulped, completely unprepared for this moment, let alone what was to follow. As I started to shake, I felt two hands on my shoulders. Each of these hands belonged to both Riley and Ryo.

"Relax man, we'll be watching and cheering you on." Ryo encouraged as he gave me a classic wink and thumbs up.

"Yeah, I'm sure with your new deck you can put mr. million bucks in debt." Riley added as he gave a friendly smile.

"_Put mr. million bucks in debt?...What kind of analogy is that?"_

All the same, I nodded to this, taking off my backpack and reaching into it for my duel disk. Once I grabbed it, I slid it onto my arm where the wrist strap activated and locked the disk in place on my arm. It was from there the duel disk would begin it's transformation into a full fledged duel disk.

"Here goes nothing." I said to myself.

"Hope you're ready for a beat down, because I'm itching to tear up some life points." Takuya snickered. I growled at this, as cockiness like that bugged me like heck.

"Let's just get on with it, rich boy." I glared.

"Fine then." Takuya smiled.

"Duel!"

**Haru: **4000 LP

**Takuya: **4000 LP

"I'll go first!" I insisted as drew from my deck. I examined my hand only to get an unpleasant surprise.

"_Great, all I have in this hand right now is a few traps, a spell card, Kuribon, and... Halo Kuriboh?"_

You remember that useless card I was talking about earlier, right? Halo Kuriboh was that monster. Now, before you say anything, I know that my past experience with this deck and it's so called "useless" cards were pleasant, but Halo Kuriboh was a different story entirely. Unlike my other Kuriboh cards, Halo Kuriboh had no special abilities, I checked. Not only that, but it wasn't a tuner monster, it had the same attack points as the others, and the same level. It was a genuine useless monster that I had no idea why I didn't take out of my deck. Regardless of this, I shook it off and began my turn.

"I'll place this card face down, and summon from my hand, Kuribon (300ATK/200DEF)!" I called as I slammed my monster card into the monster card slot. A blue portal opened at the front of the field, and a small fur ball flew out and landed itself precariously floating on my fiend.

Kuribon didn't exactly look menacing, quite the opposite in fact. It looked more like a girlie kind of monster. The only differences between Kuribon and it's Kuriboh counterparts is that it had a tail. A small rat-like tail with a big red ribbon tied to the end of it. Kuribon was also accompanied by big, full lashes on it's large eyes. I wasn't exactly proud to have it on my field, but it was better than having Halo Kuriboh.

"Cute puff ball you got there loser, are you going to activate the 'makeup set' spell card next?" Takuya smiled.

"_Why you little."_

"I end my turn." I sighed. As Takuya drew from his deck.

"Alright then, I summon Gemstone Beast to my field in attack mode! (2200ATK/0DEF)" Takuya cried as he slapped down a monster card. Another blue portal appeared on the field, only to have fly out an odd looking, tiger-like creature completely comprised of tons of random, precious gems. This beast was made of rubes, sapphires, emeralds, pearls, I'm pretty sure I saw topaz in there somewhere, but anyway, back to the duel. "Next I activate my beast's special ability! Thanks to it's effect, I'm allowed to attack you directly as long as I skip my battle phase next turn!"

"_Crap!"_

As I saw the Gemstone Beast lunge at me, it jumped right over my Kuribon and was seconds away from slashing at me with it's claws made of diamond. I had to think fast.

"Reveal face-down card!" I cried. "Miniature Defender!" I pointed to my face down card on the field as it flipped up, revealing a purple trap card with a picture of a little mouse holding a shield and sword.

"Huh?" Takuya grunted.

"My Miniature Defender trap card is activated whenever you wage an attack while I have a level one monster on my field. With it, I can negate your attack and switch my Kuribon to defense mode!" I explained. My Kuribon went into action as it jumped into the air and smacked Gemstone Beast once with it's little tail. This somehow knocked Gemstone Beast down to the ground and sent it crawling back to Takuya's field. Once this was done, Kuribon started to curl up it's tail and duck it's head, signaling it going into defense mode.

"Due to Gemstone Beast's effect, when I use it's ability I have to switch it to defense mode until my second end phase." Takuya growled as he switched his monster's battle position. "Next time, loser."

"_I don't know if I'll have a next time at this rate."_

My thoughts were nearly on the mark, with the cards I had in my hand, I wouldn't last much longer.

**To be continued...**

HeroSpirit: "The epic duel shall continue!"

Haru: "I hope I can win this one.

Ryo: "Of course you will, you're the main character!"

Haru: "The main character loses occasionally, especially in yu-gi-oh."

Ryo: "Good point."


	4. Chapter 4: Earning of the Halo

Yu-gi-oh: Rise of Arcadia

Chapter 4: Earning of the Halo

HeroSpirit: "Here we go! The conclusion!"

Ryo: "Come on Haru! You can do it!"

Takuya: "No he can't."

Haru: "Shut up rich boy!"

**Haru:** 4000 LP

**Takuya: **4000 LP

I examined the field before beginning my turn. All I had was Kuribon (300ATK/200DEF) on my side of the field in defense mode, while Takuya had a menacing monster on his field known as Gemstone Beast (2200ATK/0DEF). Luckily, I wouldn't have to deal with Gemstone Beast for a while due to it's effect. Takuya already explained that since he just used his monster's effect, he had to switch it to defense mode until the end of his next turn. This at least bought me some time.

"I draw!" I cried as I drew from my deck and examined the card.

"_This will be useful later."_

"I set one card face down and switch my Kuribon into attack mode!" I said as my Kuribon uncurled itself and glared it's eyes menacingly. The way I figured it, I could destroy Takuya's Gemstone Beast because it doesn't have any defense points. Even with Kuribon's little 300 attack points I could still take it out and prevent it from becoming an issue later.

"Attack mode? So this means you're going to sick your sissy monster on me?" Takuya heckled. I ignored this comment and continued.

"No, not before I attach this equip spell to it. I activate, Massive Determination!" I called as I slotted in the spell card. The spell card had a picture of a small child in casual clothing beginning to charge, having an intense red glow about him.

"_Maybe now rich boy will shut up."_

"My Massive Determination equip spell has the ability to power up my monster whenever it attacks. That is, as long as it's attack points are lower than the monster it's attacking. With the spell's effect, my Kuribon gains attack points equal to the monster it's targeting. Not just that, but my Kuribon can now do piercing damage!"

"What?" Takuya gasped, obviously surprised by the move.

"Go Kuribon! (2500ATK/200DEF) Destroy Gemstone Beast!" I commanded as Kuribon launched itself at the monster. I had confidence that I was going to win this fight until I saw Takuya pick up a card from his hand.

"_What's he doing?"_

"I didn't want to use this yet, but I guess I have to now. From my hand, I activate the effect of my Gemstone Guard! (0ATK/2000DEF)"

"Huh?" I gasped at this, unknowing of what was to come.

"My Gemstone Guard's effect can be activated whenever you wage an attack on one of my monsters. With it's effect, my Gemstone Guard is summoned to the field automatically and your attack is directed to _it_ instead!" I heard Takuya explain as a monster suddenly appeared on the field. It appeared to be another monster comprised of a lot of the same types of precious gems from Takuya's last monster, but this time the monster was in a humanoid shape carrying a shield that looked like it was made of diamond.

"No worries, my Kuribon still has enough power to take it out!" I insured, but Takuya wasn't so sure about this.

"I don't think so, since your Kuribon's attack points are higher than my Gemstone Guard, your Massive Determination equip spell loses it's effect and your attack points return to normal!"

"_Crap! I completely forgot!"_

I saw my Kuribon slam itself against Gemstone Guard's shield, but unfortunately it's efforts were in vain as it lost it's bonus from my spell card. The attack failed and I took damage equal to the difference in Kuribon's attack points and Gemstone Guard's defense points due to the basic rules of duel monsters.

**Haru:** 2300 LP

**Takuya: **4000 LP

"I set one more card face down and end my turn." I sighed.

"Fine then." I heard Takuya scoff. "Then I summon my Gemstone Polisher! (100ATK/100DEF)" I heard Takuya call as he slammed a monster card onto his duel disk. I soon saw a smaller gemstone monster fly out of a blue portal and fall into Takuya's field. This monster looked like a midget version of a humanoid-shaped creature, of course retaining the feature of being made of gems.

"_Oh man, that polisher is a tuner monster!"_

I of course knew this from my previous duels with Takuya, as he always used synchro monsters to deliver the final blow to me. It was his way of adding insult to injury.

"Next I synchronize my level four Gemstone Beast and my level three Gemstone Guard with my level one Gemstone Polisher!" I heard Takuya cry as his polisher shattered, only to leave behind two glowing orbs that began to circle around Gemstone Beast and Gemstone Guard until they made two glowing rings. From inside these rings the Gemstone cards began to glow, and a blinding light was created leaving me to shut my eyes.

"This can't be good." I said to myself as my vision started to clear. The only knew monster I could see was another humanoid monster that appeared to be some sort of centaur. This centaur-like monster carried a diamond sword and shield as it's weapons, and it body shined with it being made of only pearls and topaz.

"Synchro summon! Gemstone Knight! (2850ATK/2300DEF)" Takuya smiled as his monster gave a wave of it's diamond sword. "The fun doesn't stop there though, with Gemstone Beast off the field, it's effect is worn off and I can conduct my battle phase! Go Gemstone Knight, attack Kuribon!"

"_Crap! If that monster's attack is successful the duel is done!"_

I saw the shining monster charge at me with it's four horse-looking legs, using it's sword as a lance targeting my Kuribon which was still in attack mode. Luckily I had planned for this.

"I activate my trap card, Kuribonds!" I called as a purple trap card flipped up beside me revealing a picture of several plain Kuriboh monster holding each other's hands.

Suddenly, several Kuribohs started to fly out of this trap card, each one charging at Gemstone Knight only to latch onto it like it was trying to hold it down. Once about twenty of these Kuriboh monsters were out on the field doing this, the Gemstone Knight began to struggle in an attempt to get the Kuribohs off.

"What are your fur balls doing to my monster!" Takuya demanded to know as he helplessly watched this.

"They're lowering his attack points. My Kuribonds is a trap card that lowers your monster's attack points by 200 for every level it has." I finished, giving off a subtle chuckle. "So, according to my math, your knight is a level eight monster, and it loses 1600 of it's attack points leaving it with 1250 left."

"Whatever, my knight will still destroy your Kuribon!" Takuya remembered as his knight waged it's attack once more with all the Kuribohs still on him.

"I don't think so, not after I activate my second trap, Protector of the Weak!" I called as I revealed my second trap card. This card had a picture of a teenage boy using his body to protect several small children in the background.

"Another trap?" Takuya asked, I nodded.

"My Protector of the Weak is a continuous trap that prevents you from destroying my monsters if the difference in both of their attack points are less than 1000 points." I explained.

"So that means..." Takuya began, but he didn't get to finish before I interrupted.

"It means to destroy my Kuribohs, your monsters have to have 1300 attack points or more. Unfortunately, your knight is now 50 points short of that description." I finished.

I saw the Kuriboh- covered Gemstone Knight attempt to stab my Kuribon with it's diamond sword. Unfortunately, thanks to my trap, the knight's sword bumped into an energy shield instead and was launched backwards back to Takuya's field.

"_This is great. With my Kuribonds and Protector of the Weak traps on the field, Takuya can't use his knight to attack. This will give me some time to draw a counter attack."_

"Fine then, I place a card facedown and end my turn." Takuya finished.

"My move then!" I drew.

"_My Kuriclone spell card? This will come in handy later, but I shouldn't use it now."_

"I set a card face down and end my turn." I finished. I ended my turn all to quickly, but there wasn't much I could do that round with only Kuribon and the Kuriclone spell card.

"Alright then." I heard Takuya call as he drew. Takuya looked at the card he just drew and went wide eyed. I started to see him chuckle to himself with a sort of crafty grin.

"_What's he doing?"_

"This is it, loser. I just drew my triumph card!" I heard Takuya smile.

"_Oh man, this can't be good."_

"From my hand, I activate the continuous spell card, Buy Off!" I saw Takuya yell as a spell card appeared on his field with a picture of two men exchanging mags of money.

"Buy Off? What does that do?" I quizzed taking a step back as this spell was played.

"With Buy Off I can give 500 of my life points to you at any point during the duel to destroy a card on your side of the field!" he bragged as he started to laugh. "You are _so_ in for it now!"

"Uh oh." I said to myself quietly.

"_He can use that card to destroy either of my trap cards, or even my Kuribon if he wants."_

"Next I'll activate my Buy Off spell card right now, and I'll use it to destroy your Kuribonds!"

**Haru: **2800 LP

**Takuya: **3500 LP

I saw my trap card shatter along with the Kuribohs that were originally holding Takuya's Gemstone Knight. All I could think at this point was how Takuya was going to wage an attack. With my Kuribonds gone and Gemstone Knight's original attack points restored, my Protector of the Weak trap would lose it's effect on his knight and he could easily get to my Kuribon.

"Next, now that my knight's attack points are restored, I'll attack your Kuribon!"

"_I knew it."_

I saw the bejeweled knight charge, holding it's sword up high in the air and and as it waged it's onslaught on my monster, I smiled.

"I activate my face down card, Tag Out!" I called as I revealed my trap. This card flipped face up as it revealed a picture of two wrestlers in brightly colored outfits giving each other a hi-five. "This trap lets me take a monster on my field and switch it with a monster in my hand! Not only that, but after this trap has resolved, I can search my deck and remove a spell card known as 'Tag In' and put it into my hand." I explained as my duel disk began to shuffle my deck. It shuffled for a good ten seconds before it ceased and the deck was perfectly stacked with a card slightly pulled outward. I removed this card to see it was the spell card I was referring to a few moments ago.

"_I never get tired of that."_

"Now with my Tag Out's effect, I switch Kuribon with Halo Kuriboh in defense mode!" I smiled as slammed Halo Kuriboh's card onto my duel disk and took off Kuribon from it. Before I knew it, my monsters were switched around and the only thing that existed on my field was a plain-looking Kuriboh monster with a bright, shining, floating ring above it's head. The monster was curled up in an armadillo-like position, signaling it was in defense mode.

"Fine then, my Gemstone Knight still wages it's attack!" Takuya called as his knight continued to charge.

"_Wait a second, something's wrong."_

"Phoooooo." I heard something growl.

I instantly sensed something was deeply off. It seemed like this attack being waged by Takuya's knight seemed to go into slow motion. As I saw this attack happen frame by frame, I looked at my Halo Kuriboh in defense mode. I saw it suddenly uncurl itself and see what was attacking it. With a now surprised stance, Halo Kuriboh seemed to whine at this, and it uttered it's Kuriboh call.

"Phoooo!" it called in a sad tone. I saw the hologram turn to me with a deeply worried and sad expression on it's mouthless face. It's beady eyes starting to... water.

"_My god, how is that possible?"_

As I could only stare at the now crying Halo Kuriboh, I couldn't help but feel like I had done something wrong. I needlessly sacrificed Halo Kuriboh to save Kuribon.

"_I could have used my Kuriclone spell card to save Kuribon from destruction, and instead I took it out of harms way and used Halo Kuriboh as a shield."_

I saw Halo Kuriboh turn back around as Gemstone Knight drew closer. This feeling that I had done something wrong growing stronger. I knew it seemed irrational to feel for a holographic card, but these emotions of guilt and dismay still grew.

"_I... I have to save it. I have to save both of them."_

As I thought this, I nodded to myself and reached for a card in my hand. Time began to run normally once more, and I slotted the card in.

"Not so fast Takuya! From my hand I activate the quick-play spell card, Tag In!"

"What?" Takuya grunted, somehow surprised by this move.

"That's right! Remember that card I fished out of my deck with Tag Out? Well I'm going to use it right now! With this spell card, I can switch out my monsters once again and put Kuribon back onto the field and put Halo Kuriboh back into my hand!" I widely smiled. I looked back to the Halo Kuriboh hologram that was still on my field, and it was jumping around with joy like a living creature.

"I don't get it, you wasted a spell and a trap to bring you back where you started. Are you trying to lose now?" Takuya asked. He didn't ask this in a mocking way, but in a sincere way like he was truly curious as to what my move was about. I ignored this question as I placed my monsters and switched them around.

"Now I'm guessing you're still going to wage your attack, so I'm activating Kuribon's special ability!" I informed as Kuribon began to glow. "With this ability, whenever Kuribon is attacked, I can end the battle phase as long as Kuribon gives you life points equal to your monster's attack points!"

**Haru: **2800 LP

**Takuya:** 6350 LP

"So your giving me life points just so I don't destroy your fur ball? Are you serious?" Takuya started to laugh. While Takuya could only mock this strategy, I could only smile.

"It's worth the risk, I mean normally I would use Kuribon's effect before resorting to traps or spells to defend it, but I didn't want you to obtain any more life points than you already had. However, I recently had a change of heart and I decided to use it!" I confidently replied. I truly believed that if this deed with my monsters went through, my monsters would pay me back in some way, shape, or form. This is because what goes around comes around.

"Fine then, I'll end my turn." Takuya shrugged as he folded his arms.

"My move then!" I yelled as I reached my hand for my deck, however, something strange happened.

I saw my deck begin to glow. This glow of a bright white light seemed to pierce my eyes and force me to shut them slightly. I looked back at Takuya who didn't seem to notice it. Once I looked back at my deck, I could hear a faint call.

"Phooooo."

I looked back at my hand. The Halo Kuriboh card in my hand seemed to have a smiling expression, like it knew exactly what was going on.

"_What's going on here?"_

I couldn't help but think this as I drew, and as I did, the light instantly ceased and I looked at the card in my hand.

"_Halo Beacon?"_

That's what the card said. It seemed to have a lot of text underneath it as well, like it had a long or complicated effect. The picture on the card was a bright white circle in the middle of storm clouds shining down on the ground. It seemed to make a spotlight as it shined on a monster in it's light. This monster seemed to be...a Kuriboh?

"_You must be kidding."_

I began to read the card's effect, line after line, sentence after sentence I was focused on finding out what this card did, and how it could help me in this duel. Once finished, I smiled.

"_Huston, we have a game changer."_

"Today loser! Make your move today!" Takuya nagged as he tapped his foot. I looked back at him, and I figured I might as well do as he says.

"Fine then, from my hand I activate the trap card, Halo Beacon!" I called as a slapped this trap card down and it instantly stood up on my field.

"You can't activate traps from your hand you loser!" Takuya acknowledged, I nodded to this.

"Normally you're right, but because of Halo Beacon's effect, if I don't have any monsters on my field I can activate it from my hand on my turn." I explained. Takuya didn't seem to have a counter argument, so I continued. "With Halo Beacon's effect, I can special summon Halo Kuriboh from my hand!"

I slapped down Halo Kuriboh back onto the field and it emerged with confidence in it's body language and brilliance in it's appearance. With Halo Kuriboh it presence of Halo Beacon, it seemed to glow.

"Now, with Halo Beacon's effect, my Halo Kuriboh is about to get a well deserved upgrade!" I announced. Takuya actually seemed scared at this. He didn't know what was coming, but I did.

"With Halo Beacon's effect, I tribute Halo Kuriboh, in order to special summon... Halo Kuriboh LVL 10! (300ATK/200DEF)" I called. Suddenly, the Halo Beacon trap card shoot a blinding light at Halo Kuriboh, and as it did this, I shut my eyes to protect myself from it. I felt the light vanish, and opened my eyes once more. Only to see in it's place a creature like never before.

The monster was no longer just a Kuriboh. No, it was no longer a puff ball or bag of fur. It was a full fledged monster. What I saw was a bright white serpent on my field with a length that could stretch this entire duel arena. This serpent wore leather straps that wrapped themselves around my monster religiously covering it in cool looking attire. At the top of the serpent was not a head, but rather a mask. A golden mask with a pointed beak like a bird. This mask was expressionless, and it's hollow eyeholes revealed nothing, just a pitch black end. The only other feature on this new monster was a precariously floating ring above it's mask. The new monster wrapped it's body around to avoid covering so much of the field, and as I saw this new monster on my duel disk, I grinned.

"_It doesn't even look like a Kuriboh anymore."_

"I now activate Halo Kuriboh LVL 10's effect. When it's summoned, I'm allowed to draw until I have five cards in my hand. Of course, this is only if I discard two of these cards next turn." I explained. "But I doubt there will be a next turn."

"Why is that? Your monster is bigger, but it isn't stronger. It still has 300 attack points and is no match for my knight." Takuya realized, feeling much less threatened by my monster knowing this. I ignored this and drew my cards.

"_Just what I needed."_

"Before I conduct my battle phase, I activate the spell card, Magical Recycle Bin!" I called as I activated my spell. This green spell card had a picture of an average-looking recycling bin with an ominous dark glow about it. "With this card, I can take a spell card in my graveyard and use it for the remainder of this turn, and I choose to use, Massive Determination!" I smiled. As my graveyard began to glow, I saw Halo Kuriboh LVL 10 start to uncurl itself, as though it were ready for my next command.

"Now I'll have Halo Kuriboh LVL 10 attack Gemstone Knight with the effects of Massive Determination! You remember how this works right? My monster gets attack points equal to your monster's attack points. Which means this will end quick. Go, Halo Kuriboh LVL 10, attack Gemstone Knight!"

My new serpent of a monster opened it's mask from the mouth of it, and shoot a beam of energy out. This light crashed into Gemstone Knight and the two seemed locked in combat.

"Big deal! I'll only lose 300 points from this battle, and next turn I'll use Pay Off to destroy your monster!" Takuya snickered. I shook my head at this loophole that Takuya thought he found.

"There won't be a next turn, because before my Halo Kuriboh attacked, it's secondary ability activated." I smiled.

"Secondary ability?"

"That's right, with it's second effect, whenever it attacks a monster with a lower level that it has, it gains attack points equal to the monster it's attacking until the end of my turn! Since my monster is a level ten while you're knight is a level eight, It's attack bonus just doubled!"

"What?"

"That's right, so instead of Halo Kuriboh getting 2850 points, it gets 5700! Bringing it's attack points to 6000!"

As I said this, Halo Kuriboh's beam of energy suddenly breaks through to Gemstone Knight and destroys it. Instantly causing damage to his life points.

**Haru:** 2800 LP

**Takuya: **3200 LP

"You should have checked your math loser, because I'm still standing with 3200 life points!" Takuya mocked, but I had once final ace.

"Not for long, because I activate my quick play spell card, Adrenaline Pump!" I called. My final spell card was activated. Revealing a green card with a picture of a card engine with a green glow about it. "This spell card can only be activated when I recently destroy a monster through battle. With it, my monster gains the attack points of the monster it just destroyed, and it gets to attack once more!"

"WHAT?" Takuya gasped, literally falling to his knees at this. He knew what this meant.

"That's right! My Massive Determination's effect may be gone, but Adrenaline Pump will pump my monster's points all the way back up to 5700 with the addition of the attack points it just gained through it's ability. Go Halo Kuriboh LVL 10 (6000ATK/200DEF), finish this duel!" I commanded.

Halo Kuriboh knew what it had to do, and blasted one final energy blast at Takuya, engulfing him it it's attack, and as I saw Takuya's life point counter hit zero, a buzzer sounded, signaling the duel had been won by someone.

I sighed as the holograms all disappeared, and Takuya laid there on the ground like he was unconscious or something.

"_I can't believe I won. I won in a duel against Takuya."_

I felt like dancing, but that would be poor sportsmanship. Instead I walked up to Takuya on the other end of the battlefield, and looked down on him.

"So rich boy, you still think these 'puff balls' are useless now?" I mocked, giving Takuya a bit of his own medicine. Takuya could only lay there, still in shock of his defeat. His eyes wide, his mouth closed for once, and his cards littering the floor beside him.

"Haru! That was incredible!" I heard Ryo call out from behind. I turned to see the twins running towards me from the duel arena's entrance. "We were watching from the balcony, that finish was incredible! When your Halo Kuriboh unleashed it's... it was incredible! Because after you fired it was... incredible! The win and duel itself was-" Ryo cheered, but I stopped him right about the end of his last sentence.

"Let me guess, incredible?" I chuckled. Ryo laughed at this, and Riley followed up Ryo's praise.

"The duel really was well executed Haru, I was baffled by why you saved Halo Kuriboh in that one round using Tag In, but in the end I found out that you knew all along what it was capable of doing, so you protected it." Riley smiled as he approached and patted my shoulder. "By the way, nice plan using both Tag Out and Tag In on the same turn to throw Takuya off guard. I'm sure you were trying to get him to use his Buy Off spell card so he couldn't counter your next move, right?"

"Uh... right." I lied.

"_Wait a second... that Buy Off spell card."_

I started to recall that spell card's effect as told by Takuya.

_"With Buy Off I can give 500 of my life points to you at any point during the duel to destroy a card on your side of the field!"_

"At any point during the duel..." I whispered.

"_Oh my god."_

I instantly turned around and ran to Takuya who was now starting to get up. I saw Takuya dust himself off as he stood up and started to gather his cards.

"Takuya! I need to talk to you!" I called out as I stopped in front him while he was still crouching for his cards.

"What do you want now?" he asked in a cold and distant tone.

"I wanted to talk to you about that Buy Off spell card." I stated. Takuya stood up fully once he had all his cards and started to arrange them back into his deck.

"What about it?"

"You told me that card's effect was, at any point during the duel, you could activate that card to destroy any card on my field by giving me 500 life points."

"What's your point?"

"My point is that you threw the duel."

Once I said this, Takuya went wide eyed at me, and arched his eyebrow, suddenly intrigued by this serious accusation.

"What do you mean?" he questioned now fully attentional.

"I mean you could have used that spell card to destroy Halo Kuriboh LVL 10 the second it got onto the field. If you had done this, I would have been left defenseless and your Gemstone Knight would have been able to finish me off. After all I only had 2800 life points left and your knight had 2850 attack points." I explained. Takuya smiled at this, as though he found this amusing.

"Recheck your math, loser. My Buy Off spell card gives you an extra 500 life points when it's effect activates. This means even if I had done what you said, you would have been left with 450 life points after my attack." Takuya reminded. I gasped.

"_Oh yeah, that's right."_

"So the duel could have gone either way if you had activated it." I realized.

"Yeah, it could have, but _it_ didn't because_ I _didn't. So you won, I lost, and that's the price I have to pay." Takuya sighed as he ran his hand down his sleek head of hair once more and started to walk off. I didn't have much to say about the matter at this point, as I was rather confused.

"_Takuya admits the duel could have gone either way if he had activated that spell card. If this is true then the duel could have turned out with a different outcome. I guess my question is, if this is the case, why didn't he activate it?"_

I didn't know, and somehow I didn't want to know, because I won, and this would be only the first in a long line of difficult and bare wins.

HeroSpirit: "Well what do you know, Haru won after all."

Haru: "I guess so, but I had a good point, why did Takuya throw the duel?"

HeroSpirit: "All will be revealed in due time, just keep reading.

Ryo: "Why must we be in suspense! This isn't a suspense fanfic!"


	5. Chapter 5: A Duel Personality Part 1

Yu-Gi-Oh: Rise of Arcadia

Chapter 5: A Duel Personality Part 1

HeroSpirit vigorously types on his computer.

Ryo: "You're working on the next chapter already?"

HeroSpirit: "I can't help it, I have this character I've been dying to try out. I want to see how Haru does against her."

Ryo: "Her?"

HeroSpirit: "You'll see."

As school ended, I hiked myself out the door along with Ryo and Riley beside me, still trying to digest the fact I had won my performance exam against Takuya.

"What's the matter, Haru? You should be proud that you beat a long time adversary." Riley convinced. As much as I wanted to agree with him, I couldn't get that previous conversation with Takuya out of my head.

_"I mean you could have used that spell card to destroy Halo Kuriboh LVL 10 the second it got onto the field. If you had done this, I would have been left defenseless and your Gemstone Knight would have been able to finish me off. After all I only had 2800 life points left and your knight had 2850 attack points."_

_ "Recheck your math, loser. My Buy Off spell card gives you an extra 500 life points when it's effect activates. This means even if I had done what you said, you would have been left with 450 life points after my attack."_

_ "So the duel could have gone either way if you had activated it."_

_ "Yeah, it could have, but it didn't because I didn't. So you won, I lost, and that's the price I have to pay."_

I sighed, replaying this conversation a thousand times in my head over and over again, but I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that Takuya let me win for some reason. Why he did so I had little to no idea. I tried to get my mind off the subject.

"Hey Ryo, Ms. Godfrey gave us a printout of who will be facing who in the next duel performance exams. Who's your opponent?" I suddenly asked. Ryo arched his eyebrow.

"Come to think of it I didn't check. I saw her face on the board when our matches were revealed but I have no idea who she is." Ryo admitted as he took off his backpack and unzipped it to take out the paper we received earlier. "Anyone know a person named 'Mina Halls'?"

"MINA HALLS?" Riley exploded. Riley took a few steps backward and nearly fell over. I arched my eyebrow.

"I'm guessing you know her." I chuckled. Riley looked at me with a somewhat surprised and serious face.

"Anyone who's anyone knows about Mina Halls. She's in the advanced classes and she's the only one in history to score perfectly on her duel performance exams three years in a row!" Riley enlightened. I went wide eyed, and thought about this. One thing didn't add up.

"Hold on, the _advanced_ classes? I thought we were supposed to get paired up with kids from our class. Why did Ryo get paired up with Mina?" I asked as I stopped walking so Riley could explain.

"Well, I've heard rumors that recently Mina is refusing to duel in her duel performance tests. Her scores have drastically dropped, so maybe Ryo's score has evened up with hers." Riley remembered. "This is only recently though, she was and I bet still is a great duelist."

"Hey! Wait a second, what did you mean by her scores 'drastically dropping' and her 'evening up with my score'?" Ryo growled as he realized that Riley just indirectly insulted him.

"Ryo, what block are you in?" I asked, trying to divert from that subject.

"Block three, which means I'll be first to duel tomorrow." Ryo answered, suddenly calming down.

"Ah, I see. Hey Riley, you know where to find this 'Mina Halls'?" I followed up.

"Why do you want to know?" Riley double questioned, suddenly becoming intrigued.

"I want to know why she recently stopped dueling, maybe convince her to duel Ryo in the exams. I'm sure if she stopped dueling she's not going to duel him." I answered.

"How are you going to convince her?" Riley followed up as he leaned a little closer to me. I decided not to answer this question as I wasn't sure Riley would like the answer. "Haru, you're not thinking of _dueling_ her are you?"

"Maybe." I smiled. Riley seemed to protest this.

"Haru don't you do it! Mina is a menace and a shark at dueling! She'll kill you!"

"What makes you think that? Because she scored perfectly on her exams a few years back?"

"Haru, do you even know what it takes to score _perfectly_ on your exams?"

"No, what?"

Riley leaned in closer so I could clearly hear him, and gained a stern expression.

"To score perfectly on your exams, you have to beat your opponent in _one_ turn."

"_What?"_

"How is that even possible?" I skeptically asked, not ready to believe this.

"It's possible, because Mina has done it _every_ time she duels. She only gives you _one_ move and _one_ draw before she beats you, that's how she is. _One_ turn to prepare yourself for her onslaught, and nobody is ever prepared enough for her." Riley explained. I couldn't believe what I was hearing, but somehow, it didn't matter.

"I'm going to do it anyway."

"Don't say I didn't warn you."

After about half an hour, I was wondering the halls looking for this classroom that I was suppose to find Mina in.

_"You can find Mina Halls in classroom 204, she studies there after school all the time. If you get there before 4:00PM, you'll find her there."_

That's what Riley told me anyway. I hadn't even been to this wing of the school before, and I had no idea where this classroom was. However, I manged to find the 200s in the classroom's numbers, and if I followed the now darkened and abandoned hallway I bet I could find her.

It only took me about ten minutes to find the classroom I was looking for, and I opened the door to it to see a perfectly lit room unlike the rest of the hallway since school was past out. I looked around the hallway to see a ton of empty desks, but of course not all were empty. In a single desk, in the front, I saw a girl.

"_That must be her."_

"Excuse me, I'm looking for Mina Halls." I said as I entered the room. The girl, whom had her back turned to me, suddenly flinched, like I had surprised her by my words as I shattered the quietness of the room. She turned to me to reveal her face. I saw a ginger girl with a light skin tone and a freckled face that seemed to have an expression of fright. She adjusted some red hair out of her eyes before responding.

"Um... I'm... I'm Mina Halls." she said rather timidly. I could tell already that she wasn't comfortable talking to me. I walked further into the room to approach the girl.

"I've been looking all over for you. I just wanted to ask you something." I friendly smiled, trying to make her more comfortable with this conversation.

"If you want a duel then the answer is no." she instantly responded turning back to her book.

"_Wow, how did she know?"_

"Why not?" I whined. Once I said this, I realized I was acting like a little kid and tried to straighten myself out.

"Because... I just... I just don't duel anymore, ok?" Mina responded avoiding looking at me. I tried to make some sort of eye contact with her, but she seemed focused on the book that she was reading.

"It's really important though. I heard that you stopped dueling recently, even in your performance exams and I just want to know why." I said, turning and moving my head around trying to find some sort of route to take so she'd at least look at me.

"I just don't ok, just pl-please respect that and leave me be." Mina said shyly, keeping her eyes on her book. I sighed at this, moving right in front of her and grabbing the book she was reading. I then slid it out from on top of the desk and shut it loudly.

"You're matched up with a friend of mine in the duel performance exams. If you don't duel then he doesn't duel either. This means you both get an 'F' on the test and his score goes down even farther. He's in the hole as is, and I can't see that happen." I explained, setting the book I just took on a different desk.

"Oh... ok... so... so you're not here to duel me... you just... want to convince me to duel for the exams."

"That's right."

"Well I... can't do it."

"Why not? It's a simple duel, you can even throw it if you want, just duel and it'll be over with."

"You don't understand... my situation."

This entire conversation Mina was avoiding eye contact with me. Whether it was looking down or to the side as she talked, she couldn't look at me directly. This shy and seemingly timid girl had something to hide and I wanted to know what.

"Then _let _me understand by telling me."

"Just... please leave me alone!"

As Mina said this, she got up from her desk and grabbed her bag heading for the door. I didn't expect this type of response from her, and I ran over to the door before she got to it.

"Mina, wait!"

"I said no!"

I placed my body in front of the door and blocked her only exit, as I did this the nervous girl called Mina went wide eyed, and gained an annoyed expression.

"Let me go." she said. Not as a command, no, but more of a begging statement. Like she knew there wasn't much she could do with me doing this.

"Not until you agree to duel at the exams."

"I said no! Why can't you accept that!"

"Because I can't stand to see a friend fail. Both you and Ryo." I admitted. I immediately grabbed Mina's bag from her hand and searched it for a duel disk. I knew if I found one I could continue with what I had in mind. "And if you can't agree to this, we'll settle things Duel Academy style." I smiled as I found the duel disk I was looking for and took it out of the bag, giving Mina both the disk and the bag at once.

"We're going to duel right now, and if I win, you have to duel at the exams, but if you win, I'll leave you alone, for the rest of your life if you want me to."

"I already told you I can't duel!" Mina begged, now on the brink of crying for some reason.

"You _can't_ duel, or you _don't want_ to duel?"

I thrusted her duel disk at Mina and forced her to take it, taking off my backpack and fishing out my own disk as well. Mina stared down at the duel disk she was holding, and she seemed to smile. Her head looked up, her expression completely changed. Her mouth twisted into a smug smile, and her eyes glaring.

"So you really want to duel me, eh?" she said in a... a sort of mocking manner.

"_Wow, I sense the atmosphere just changed."_

"Y-... yeah that's right." I replied, shaking this feeling off.

"Then you're on. I'll duel at the exams if you win, which you won't, and you'll leave me alone for the rest of my life if I win, which I will." Mina confidently replied as she slid her duel disk on and retained her smug expression.

I ignored this sudden change of attitude and both of us slid our decks into our duel disks and Mina stepped further apart from me, giving us room the duel.

"Lets go then!" I proudly called.

"Duel!" we both said in unison.

**Haru:** 4000 LP

**Mina: **4000 LP

"I'll go first!" I insisted as I drew from my deck, making a wide smile, but then I started to recall what Riley told me before this duel began.

_ "She only gives you one move and ___one___ draw before she beats you, that's how she is."_

I figured this was this one move, one chance before she beat me. If she really beats me in one turn, lets see how she handles. I looked at my hand to see what I got as I drew my cards.

"_Sweet! I have Kuriclone, Miniature Defender, a whole bunch of spells and traps to prevent her from attacking my monsters this turn."_

I was fully confident that I could last at least one turn with this girl, and I played the only monster I had in my hand.

"I summon, Kuribon! (300ATK/200DEF)" I called as my monster took to the field through a blue portal. The Kuriboh with the red bow and big lashes floated to my field ready for anything. "Then I'll set a card face down and end my turn."

"That's it? That's all you have to offer me? This will be cake." she mocked as she drew her card.

"_Something is really wrong here. A couple of minutes ago I was talking to a shy, scared, and somewhat spineless girl. Now that she's dueling though... she's confident, energetic, she's even mocking me!"_

"I'll set two cards face down and summon my Single Split Swordswoman straight onto the field! (?ATK/?DEF)" Mina called as a skinny, beautiful woman with long blond hair and plate armor took to the field. The monster suddenly drew a sword from her belt, and took her stance.

"_What's with her stats? Why are there question marks on them?" _

"My swordswoman's ability means her attack and defense points equal all the 'single split' monsters I have on my field multiplied by 500! This includes herself." Mina explained.

"_Well at least she doesn't have any monsters. That way her swordswomen only has 500 points."_

"Next, from my hand, I activate the spell card, Uniformity!" she called as a spell card appeared on the field with a picture of several police officers saluting and looking completely identical. "This magic card lets me select a monster on my field, and if I have any more copies of that monster in my deck I can summon them to the field!"

"_What?"_

"And it turns out I have two more swordswomen in my deck!" she laughed as two more identical monsters suddenly appeared on the field next to the first swordswoman. "It gets better though, because of swordswoman's effect, she gains attack points times the number of 'single split' cards on my field times 500."

"Yeah yeah, I get it. All your monsters now have 1500 attack and defense points." I growled, annoyed by this move.

"That's right, now I'll have one of my swordswomen attack your Kuribon!" Mina smiled as one of her monsters suddenly charged at my Kuribon her sword ablaze, my Kuribon panicked, but I had a triumph card.

"I activate my trap card, Miniature Defender!" I called.

"I don't think so."

"What?"

"Because I activate _my_ trap, Commandment of Royalty!" Mina chuckled as she revealed her trap. It was a picture of a scroll being read by several medieval townspeople. "With this trap, you can only activate spells, traps, and monster effects on _your _turn, and since it's still mine, your trap can't be activated!"

"_Crap! That means..."_

As the swordswoman's sword made contact with my Kuribon, it shattered, and I stepped back as my life points took a hefty hit.

**Haru:** 2800 LP

**Mina: **4000 LP

"But the fun doesn't end there, my other two swordswoman haven't had a chance to attack you yet! Go Single Split Swordswoman #2, attack Haru directly!" Mina commanded as her second monster waged battle. It's sword was stabbed into my chest and through my body, but since it was a hologram it did nothing to harm me physically.

**Haru:** 1300 LP

**Mina:** 4000 LP

"I'm still not done though, my third swordswoman hasn't attacked, and she has 1500 attack points that she's itching to burn!" Mina widely and smugly smiled as her third monster charged at me.

"_With her Commandment of Royalty trap card out, I can't activate spells or traps to defend myself. Why, I couldn't even use Kuribon's ability to end her battle phase!"_

Mina's monster stabbed me straight through, and I took the final blow.

**Haru:** 0 LP

**Mina: **4000 LP

A buzzer sounded signaling someone had won, but this time it wasn't me. I feel to my knees as I realized what just happened, and I was still trying to process what _exactly_ happened.

"_My god, she beat me in a signal turn."_

I recalled once more that Riley had told me that she only gives you one chance and one turn to prepare yourself before she beats you, and this is what he meant. He tried to warn me and I wouldn't listen. I stood up as Mina started to chuckle, somewhat bragging that she had won.

"Fine then, you win, and I'll leave you alone." I sighed as I opened the door about to leave.

"_I guess Ryo will just have to fail."_

"Hold on." I heard Mina say before I walked out of the room. I turned to see what Mina wanted.

"What?" I asked, curious as to what this was.

"You showed a lot of guts trying to take me on, and you seemed real serious and determined about me doing this whole dueling thing. I'll tell you what, I'll screw our deal and duel tomorrow at the exam." Mina chuckled, extending her hand to me and giving me a somewhat friendly expression with her still glared eyes. I gasped at this, as I was surprised that she agreed to duel even though I lost. I gladly took her hand and shook it with a wide grin.

"_I wonder if what I've done here will make a difference though. After all, with Mina's skills, this only makes me even more worried about Ryo's grade. Mostly because I'm sure he's going to lose badly."_

I hid this thought from Mina's naked eye though, as I didn't want to spoil what I had just done Somehow though, in someway, I knew that I would regret what I had just done in more ways than just one.

HeroSpirit: "And THAT is how you intro a character!"

Haru: "By having her beat me?"

HeroSpirit: "No, by showing off how tough she is BY beating you."

Ryo: "Oh man, I hope I can win against her in my exams."

Mina: "I don't."


	6. Chapter 6: A Duel Personality Part 2

Yu-Gi-Oh: Rise of Arcadia

Chapter 6: A Duel Personality Part 2

HeroSpirit: "And now for the duel of Mina versus Ryo!"

Ryo: "Go me!"

HeroSpirit: "Don't get cocky there buddy."

Ryo: "It's not being cocky if you know you're going to win."

After a full night without sleep the day came in which I had to watch Ryo's duel with the newly found duelist Mina Halls. I knew it wasn't going to be a fun one to watch, and I knew that Ryo's level of skill didn't exactly match Mina's. Of course though, I didn't want to let him know this or he'd get scared or chicken out of the duel.

"Alright! Today is the day I finally pass a duel performance exam!" Ryo cheered to himself as we entered the school building. "I'm going to show that Mina Halls what for with my guild deck!"

"Ryo, if I were you I wouldn't get too cocky, after all you haven't passed any exams before this one." Riley scolded. I felt like somewhat scolding Riley for discouraging his twin brother before his duel, but then again maybe it wasn't a good idea to get in the middle.

"Relax Riles, I have it all figured out. I reconfigured my deck and I'm set for anything that comes my way." Ryo assured as he took his deck out and held it up.

"_No amount of reconfiguring will prepare him for what I faced."_

As we entered the classroom it was about a full half hour before Ms. Godfrey actually came into the class. She had several papers stacked up in her arms and a tired expression on her face. As she set the papers down and gave a sigh of relief she looked around the class and smiled.

"Alright guys, today blocks three and four will be dueling today. I'm still trying to catch up with grading the last few classes, but I'll be sure to record the grades of block three today. Everyone report to the duel arena to watch or-" Ms. Godfrey started, but she was interrupted when the door was opened by someone. Everyone seemed to watch as the heavy wood door slid open and a familiar face popped out.

"_Mina?"_

"Um... Ms-Ms. Godfrey, what time was I suppose to go to the arena? Is my...my duel third or fourth block?" I heard Mina say apprehensively. Ms. Godfrey seemed happy to see Mina despite the fact Mina didn't look happy to see her. Ms. Godfrey walked over to the door and pointed in a direct outside it.

"You're third block dear. You'll be dueling Ryo Minoto in arena two." she answered as she pointed down the hallway to the left. Mina looked over in the direct Ms. Godfrey was pointing to and quietly nodded.

"Um... ok, thank you.." she thanked as she bowed to the teacher and walked off. Ryo, who was sitting next to me, nudged my elbow.

"Hey Haru, is that the Mina Halls you were talking to Riley about? I'm pretty sure I heard Ms. Godfrey saying I was going to duel her." I heard Ryo ask quietly so nobody could hear.

"Yeah, why do you ask?" I nudged back.

"Well she doesn't look so tough. I could totally take her."

"Excuse me?"

"Well it's just that I was expecting this real hardy chick for being such a hardcore duelist."

"_And that's exactly what you're going to get."_

The class was escorted to the duel arena in a matter of minutes, those who were dueling in block 3 were left behind in the classroom to give them a chance to reconfigure their decks. Ryo, for some reason, decided not to take this opportunity claiming that his deck "was all too ready for the challenge". While I didn't agree with this, I tried to convince him to tweak it a little, but he declined.

I sat up in the balcony to watch Ryo's duel. That way I could get a good view of everything. Riley was right behind me to take a seat beside me.

"Have you seen Mina anywhere?" Riley asked taking his seat.

"Yeah, I'm sure she's coming." I sighed, leaning back a little.

"Seriously? So you _did_ convince her to duel."

"Yeah, sort of."

"I bet you had to duel her to get her to come here though, am I far off?"

"That's right."

Riley was somewhat surprised by this despite the fact he was the one who brought it up, and eventually gave a grin.

"So the usual wager was made right? You win she duels and she wins she doesn't?" Riley quizzed, leaning in a little looking intrigued.

"That's right." I admitted, looking downward to see Ryo enter the arena and taking his spot.

"Wow! So you actually beat her! Dude, do you have any idea what kind of skill that takes!"

"Uh... Riles..."

"I mean really, Mina is one of the best duelists I've seen in a long time, the fact you beat her is phenomenal!"

"Riles..."

"You really need to show me the card you used in the duel that pulled off that sort of miracle, I bet it could be put in the-.."

"RILEY!"

"What?" Riley finally asked before going on with his rant. He looked over to me to see what was so important.

"I didn't beat her." I sighed, looking back up and to the roof of the arena. Riley just stared at me wide eyed.

"Excuse me?"

"She beat me in a single turn just like you said. The only reason she's here is because she liked my guts."

Riley looked nearly ready to fall out of his seat. I'm sure he could guess that if Mina beat me in one turn just like he said she would, Ryo would be in more trouble than I'd be.

"Oh man, I hope Ryo's going to be ok." Riley worryingly said as he looked down to see Ryo putting on his disk. I looked back down to see Mina walking into the duel arena with her duel disk under her arm.

"I'll be right back." I assured as I stood up from my seat and ran for the arena.

I turned the corner and practically slid down the railing of the stairs. I had to talk to Ryo for a second before the duel started, and I had to hurry before it was too late. Once I was down the stairs, I didn't have far to go to reach the entrance of the duel arena, and I rushed in running towards Ryo who looked raring to go.

"Ryo!" I called as he suddenly turned over towards me. Ryo got a confused expression, as I wasn't suppose to be in the arena before a duel.

"Haru? What are you doing here? Come to watch me win?" Ryo said rather overconfidently.

"Ryo, I needed to tell you something before this duel started up."

"What's that?"

"I need to remind you not to get too cocky in this duel, Mina is tougher than she looks."

"Aw, she doesn't look so bad."

"That's what I'm talking about! Look Ryo, when Mina duels, she's like a completely different person, you need to remind yourself of that and stay focused." I couldn't stress this enough, as part of my lose was overestimating Mina, and if I hadn't have done that I could have won.

"Relax Haru, I'll be fine. Just you wait, I'll be dueling circles around this chick." Ryo chuckled as he inserted his deck.

"_I guess there's nothing I can say to him."_

"Fine then, go for it." I sighed, running back over to the other side of the arena to talk to Mina, who was trying to find her duel disk in her backpack. "Hey Mina, good luck out there."

"I... um... I'm not so sure I should be doing this." Mina said in a nervous manner as she stopped searching for her disk. I couldn't help but think she was acting as she seemed so sure of herself last time we met, and she was the one who offered to duel in the first place. I tried to ignore this though, as if I thought about it too much I'd probably get a headache.

"Relax Mina, you'll be fine. Just do your best, alright?" I encouraged. As much as I wanted Ryo to win, it wouldn't be fair if I told Mina to give anything less than her best. After all, both their grades were at stake here.

"Um... ok then..th-thank you." she nodded, avoiding my gaze as she rustled through her bag some more. Once she found her disk, she pulled it out and strapped it onto her wrist, looking back up and glaring with those eyes of hers. "Relax man, I'll give everything I got, so go tell your friend there he's in for it." Mina confidently said as she stood up and inserted her deck in.

"_There she goes again."_

It didn't take me too long to exit the arena and take my seat back up to the balcony. This was about the time when both of them were through shuffling their decks and were about to begin.

"Did you talk to Ryo?" Riley asked, almost as though he didn't even see from all the way up here.

"Yeah, but for some reason I'm even more worried about him than before now." I sighed, leaning back in my seat.

"Duel!" I heard to two of them say as they began.

**Ryo:** 4000 LP

**Mina: **4000 LP

"I'll go first!" Ryo assured as he drew from his deck. "From my hand I'll place three cards face down and summon up, my Brigadier of the Guild! (1300ATK/1200DEF)" Ryo called as a blue portal emerged from the middle of the field, only to have an average-sized teenage boy fly out in leather armor and a purple tabard much like the rest of Ryo's monsters. The brigadier took his position on Ryo's field and pointed an old-looking gun with a large cone-like end such as the ones used back in the day.

"A tuner monster and that's it?" Mina asked, tapping her foot waiting for her turn to begin.

"Yeah, you're move." Ryo confidently said.

"Alright then, I draw!" Mina said as she drew from her deck and examined her hand. "I'll place two cards face down and summon to the field, my Single Split Archer! (1400ATK/900DEF)" Mina called as another portal opened on the field, and out of it came a man with chain mail armor holding a bow that actually looked a little modern. As his bow had cranks and adjusters on it like you would normally see today. "Next I'll have my archer attack your brigadier!"

"Not so fast, you triggered my trap card!" Ryo called pointing to one of his face downs, which was actually about to flip up before Mina interrupted.

"With your activation comes mine. Go Commandment of Royalty!" she called as a familiar looking trap card was flipped on her field and began to glow. From the balcony I gasped.

"_You're kidding, she's using the same card she used to beat me."_

"With my Commandment of Royalty trap card, you aren't allowed to play spells or traps during my turns. Which means your first trap must remain face down." Mina chuckled, but Ryo didn't seem to bothered, as he pressed a button on his duel disk to reveal a different trap.

"In that case, I'll chain your activation with my second trap, Guildmaster's Privileges!" I heard Ryo shout as his second trap was revealed. A purple trap card with a picture of a royal king sitting on his throne with several servants tending to him. I went wide eyed at this, as I thought Mina's trap prevented Ryo from using traps or spells on her turn.

"Riley, can Ryo activate that trap card with Commandment of Royalty out?" I asked, turning to the seat next to me.

"Well if it's a chain activation then yes, otherwise it isn't legal." Riley replied, examining the field intently.

"A chain activation? What's that?"

"It's when a spell, trap, or monster effect is activated in a chain of two cards or more in which one or more of the cards in the chain cancel the other out. In a chain activation, the last card to be played is the first one in priority to get it's effect resolved, and then the priority goes down the chain from there." Riley explained, leaning down in his seat. "Basically it means that Ryo gets to have his trap's effect resolve first, and then Commandment of Royalty takes effect."

"_Wow, Ryo knows more about dueling than I thought."_

"My Guildmaster's Privileges trap card automatically activates whenever you play a card that prevents me from playing a spell, trap, or monster effect. With this card, I can destroy that card and continue my move." Ryo smiled as I saw Mina's Commandment of Royalty trap card shatter and Mina gained an annoyed expression. "Next I activate the trap I was going to activate before you played your trap. Go, Guild's Reinforcement!" Ryo called, revealing a trap card with a picture of a swordsman parrying another monster which appeared to be attacking several other people wearing the same tabard as the swordsman. "This trap can only be activated whenever my monster is attacked by my opponent. With this card, I can take a monster from my hand and special summon it to the field. After that, the attack is directed to the monster I summoned!" Ryo smiled, holding up a monster card in his hand that I was too far away to see. "Oh, and look at that, I just so happen to have my Swordsman of the Guild in my hand with 1500 attack points!"

Ryo slammed his swordsman onto his duel disk and had him appear on his field, but Mina, for some odd reason, didn't look too worried.

"_I wonder why that is. Ryo's swordsman has 100 extra attack points more than her archer."_

"I reveal my trap card, Temporal Scale!" Mina called as she revealed her second face down card.

"_Maybe that's why."_

"Oh man, Ryo is in trouble now." Riley gasped as he saw Mina's trap card activated. I arched my eyebrow at Riley and looked over to him.

"You've heard of the card? What does it do?" I curiously asked.

"Temporal Scale is a nasty trap card that's going to seriously cripple Ryo's gameplay. With Temporal Scale's effect, Ryo isn't allowed to have more monsters than Mina has. If he does, Mina gets to destroy his monsters until both sides are equal." Riley nervously explained as he leaned a little more forward to see the duel.

"Is it continuous?" I double questioned.

"Unfortunately, yes." Riley sighed.

"With my Temporal Scale, your monster won't be making his appearance for very long, because it's time to say goodbye!" Mina smiled as she pointed to Ryo's newly appeared swordsman. As she pointed, the swordsman shattered and the blow from it caused Ryo to take a few steps back.

"What... what the heck just happened?" Ryo gasped, looking around for his swordsman.

"With Temporal Scale's effect, you can't summon monsters onto your field if you already have an equal amount of monsters than me. If you do, however, I get to pick a monster on your field and destroy it. With that effect resolved, my archer continues it's attack on your brigadier!"

Mina's archer took an arrow from the quiver on it's back, positioning it into the bow and pointing it towards Ryo's monster. With a quick movement of the fingers, the arrow was launched and the second it made contact, Ryo's monster shattered like glass and Ryo protected his eyes. Why he did so I have no idea. Maybe he was being melodramatic.

"_Oh man, Ryo is already off to a bad start."_

**Ryo:** 3900 LP

**Mina:** 4000 LP

"Next I'll activate my archer's special ability!" Mina grinned as she pointed to her monster. "My single split archer has a unique ability. Every other time he destroys a monster in battle, he gains 500 attack points and can attack once more!"

"Every _other_ time?" I asked to myself from the balcony.

I saw Mina's monster change it's stance, a dark glow suddenly about it. It's ability to stand suddenly in danger. Once the glow grew stronger, the archer began to stand once more. From where I was sitting, I could see the archer hologram suddenly had an... evil expression.

"_What's up with Mina's monster?"_

The archer snickered as it drew back another arrow. Shooting in into the air, the arrow made an arc as it eventually ended up going straight through Ryo's head. Being a hologram though, it didn't do anything.

**Ryo:** 1000 LP

**Mina:** 4000 LP

Ryo flinched as the arrow hit, but soon remembered that there was nothing to fear, and regained his position on his side of the field.

"Now since my archer has attacked, it's secondary ability activates." Mina started.

"Secondary ability?" Ryo quizzed as his eyes went wide.

"That's right, every other time my archer attacks. It loses 500 of it's attack points, and instead gains 500 defense points. Not only that, but it's automatically switched to defense mode." Mina explained as her archer started to kneel down, losing it's dark glow.

"_That's weird."_

"I think I get it. Mina's monster has two different abilities, and it get access to those two abilities depending on how many times it attacks." Riley realized from beside me. I looked over to Riley, not saying a word, and focused back on the duel.

"_If what Riles is saying is true, Mina's strategy will be difficult if not impossible to adapt to."_

"I'll end my turn with a face down card." Mina finished. Ryo soon drew his card and began his turn.

"My move then! I'll start off by summoning, Fryer of the Guild! (800ATK/1000DEF)" Ryo called as another blue portal opened in the field. This portal released a robed character with a staff in the shape of a cross. As the monster floated to his field, it seemed to be a weak monster and an old-looking one too. This Fryer wasn't much of a match, and I was wondering why Ryo summoned it. "Next I'll activate my Fryer's special ability!"

"Huh?" I heard Mine grunt from across the field. "What kind of ability?"

"An ability that lets me select a monster in my graveyard and put it back onto the field! This of course only works on monsters with the word 'guild' in their name, but that doesn't seem to matter with my deck!" Ryo confidently said as the graveyard on Ryo's dark purple duel disk started to glow. "From this effect, I'll be summoning... Swordsman of the Guild! (1500ATK/1300DEF)"

Ryo's monster made it's appearance as the blue portal that summoned monsters once again revealed itself, and shot out Ryo's monster with the gigantic sword. With a slam, the swordsman landed on Ryo's field, and held it's sword in a battle ready position.

"Are you some kind of idiot? You're forgetting my Temporal Scale's effect. You now have two monsters while I only have one, which means I can destroy your swordsman with it's effect." Mina reminded. I couldn't help but think that was a stupid move of Ryo to make. However, for some reason, when I looked at Ryo on the battlefield, he was... smiling.

"That's why I have my Fryer's secondary ability! Whenever a monster on my field is the target of a spell, trap, or monster effect that's about to destroy it, my Fryer can take it's place!" Ryo countered as his Fryer of the Guild suddenly shattered like glass and Mina gasped.

"Fine then, I guess you're going to attack now?" Mina guessed as she, for some reason steadied her stance. Ryo shook his head.

"Nope, I'll be ending my turn with a face down card. Your move." Ryo replied as another face down appeared on his field.

"That was surprisingly smart of Ryo not to attack." Riley admitted as he continued his gaze down at the duel.

"Yeah, you're right. I think Ryo knows that if he attacks Mina's archer and destroys it, it's true that he'll deal her 100 points of damage, but he'll also get his swordsman destroyed with Temporal Scale's effect." I added, realizing why it was that Ryo didn't attack this turn.

"Exactly, on the other hand, if Ryo doesn't attack, Mina is at a stalemate with that archer. Since that archer can only get it's attack point boost every other time it attacks, and can't destroy Ryo's swordsman without it, Mina has to summon another monster which of course might give Ryo the opportunity to summon another monster himself and not have to worry about Temporal Scale."

"Yeah, but do you think that's Ryo's intention?"

"Obviously so. I think he's going to go for a synchro summon and is waiting for Mina to summon another monster."

"What makes you say that?"

"Look at the field."

"_Huh?"_

I did as Riley instructed and examined the field that Ryo and Mina played out. Ryo had his swordsman on his side of the field with two face down cards, and Mina had her archer with no face downs.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Have you noticed that Ryo has had one of those face down cards for the entire duel?" Riley double questioned. I looked back at the field and gasped. I suddenly did realize one of Ryo's face down cards were still there. The ones he laid at the beginning of the duel.

_"From my hand I'll place three cards face downs..."_ I remembered Ryo saying.

"_Riley is right. He laid down three face down cards and throughout this entire duel he's only used two of those original three. Could he be planning something?"_

"There's no way Ryo would wait this long to use a trap card that couldn't be a game changer, he's too impulsive for that." Riley chuckled as he looked back to me and the back to the field.

"Fine then, I draw!" Mina called as she examined the card she just drew. "I'll start out by placing a card face down, and next I'll summon the monster, Single Split Technician! (1100ATK/1000DEF)" Mina yelled as her monster took to the field via portal. It wasn't long before a monster appeared wearing what looked like an international espionage suit. It was a black suit the slim monster wore with several pockets on it's vest and two holsters for pistols on it's back. It took a calm and casual stance as it stood on Mina's field. I looked over to Ryo, who was smiling.

"I was hoping you'd do that! I activate my trap card, Summoning Snare!" Ryo smiled as a trap card was revealed with a picture of a robot-like monster trapped in a pair of energy-based handcuffs. Behind this robot on the card was a blue portal similar to the one used for summoning. "This trap card can only be activated whenever you summon a monster. With it's effect, you're monster loses all of it's attack points!"

"What?" Mina gasped, surprised by this trap.

"That's right, but those points won't go to waste, because they'll be inflicted as damage on your life points!" Ryo started to chuckle.

"Alright! Nice move Ryo." I cheered from the balcony. I looked over at Mina who had suddenly regained her composure and seemed to...smile?

"_Huh?"_

"I guess I have no choice now. I activate Single Split Technician's ability." she smiled.

"Huh?" Ryo grunted, caught off guard.

"My Technician's ability allows him to disarm a spell or trap card on your field once per turn and send it back to your hand. Also, every other time he does this, he can inflict 500 points of damage on you. Luckily though, this isn't one of those times." Mina seemed to warn. Ryo's trap was destroyed and Ryo growled.

"Oh man, tough luck. That trap went to waste." I sighed as I leaned back in my seat.

"Ryo you sly dog you." Riley started to chuckle from beside me. I went wide eyed at this, and turned to Riley.

"Huh?" I groaned at this. Riley seemed to know something I didn't "What are you talking about?"

"Haru, do me a favor and look at Ryo's expression closely." Riley grinned pointing downward at the duel. I did as instructed, and I still saw Ryo disgruntled by Mina's last move, examining his hand, which by now only had a single card, and then back to the field. Although, as I continued to obverse, I saw Ryo... smile?

"What's there to smile about? His trap card failed." I reminded. Riley just shook his head at this.

"That's exactly what he wanted to happen though." Riley enlightened as he leaned a little more forward in his seat.

"Seriously? Why?" I questioned, looking from the field back to Riley, and then back to the field again.

"Don't you get it Haru? Somehow Ryo had a feeling one of Mina's monsters could counter his trap card, and he decided to set the trap off once so it couldn't be set off again. See that trap card Ryo still has? There's no way Mina can counter it now."

"But that's not true, Mina still has a face down card left."

"If that card was of any use she would have used it. Did you notice the words she used when she activated it?"

_ "I guess I have no choice now. I activate Single Split Technician's ability."_

I thought about this for a moment. Mina wouldn't have worded it like that if her monster's effect wasn't a last resort. Unless Mina was playing mind games, she had no other means of defending herself against trap cards.

"_I had no idea both Ryo and Riley were so sharp."_

"Aw, I guess you countered my trap card. Well, I guess I'll have to settle for my other one." Ryo sarcastically remarked as his smile turned into a wide grin. I could see Mina's arched eyebrow from the balcony. Clearly she was confused.

"What's that look on your face?" Mina asked. Ryo only reached for his duel disk to press a button to flip his trap card.

"I'll tell you after my trap card activates! Go, Scrap Tuning!" Ryo cheered to himself as his trap card flipped with a picture of a pile of junk with several duel monster's cards lodged into the pile. "It's about time I ended this duel, because with this trap card, I can synchro summon with monsters from my graveyard _and_ my field!"

"Just as I thought." Riley remarked, smirking to himself as Ryo continued his move.

"So get this, I have a level three Brigadier of the Guild in my grave and a level four Swordsman of the Guild on my field makes a level seven synchro monster!"

"_Level seven? This ought to be good."_

"From my graveyard, my Brigadier tuner monster synchronizes with my Swordsman!"

I saw Ryo's graveyard begin to glow, and from it came the monster that he called forth. Ryo's Brigadier of the Guild shattered, leaving behind three white orbs that began to circle themselves around Ryo's Swordsman. A blinding light occurred at that moment, causing me to shut my eyes for a brief time before looking back to the field to see his monster.

"Synchro summon! Guildmaster's Justiciar! (2000ATK/2500DEF)" Ryo shouted as the blinding light dissipated, and an old-looking monster in a bright white robe carrying a book underneath it's shoulder. A glass hammer was in it's other hand, and the monster appeared ready for battle.

"That's it? That's all you have for me?" Mina mocked. Not seeming to impressed with this monster despite it's high level.

"Not quite, because with the last card in my hand, I equip Guildmaster's Hammer!" Ryo smiled. A spell card with a picture of a large, white, two handed hammer with the Guild's crest mounted on it appeared, and from it came shooting out a hammer like the one on the card. This hammer was caught by Ryo's synchro monster, and forced it to drop it's smaller hammer and book. "With this equip spell, for every monster my Justiciar attacks and destroys, it can attack once more!"

"Huh?"

"That's right, and my Justiciar is going after your Technician!" he called. The robed monster suddenly charged with it's hammer ablaze, slamming it down on Mina's monster and caused it to shatter.

**Ryo: **1000 LP

**Mina: **2100 LP

Mina suddenly checked her life point counter, and gasped.

"Hey! Why did I just lose 1900 life points for a battle that only causes me 900 damage?" Mina demanded to know, somewhat confused.

"It's because my Justiciar gains 1000 attack points for every battle it gets into due to it's special ability. Not only does he keep these attack points till my end phase, but thanks to his hammer he can attack your archer!" Ryo explained. Ryo's Justiciar, who was still trying to lift his hammer from that last attack, growled as it lifted it, and slammed it back down on Mina's archer.

"_Justiciar just got an extra 1000 attack points before that battle, and with it's 4000 attack points minus Mina's archer's 1400 attack points leaves her with only 600 points left!"_

"Not only that, but now that my Justiciar destroyed another monster, his hammer lets me attack you directly!" Ryo reminded as his monster lifted his hammer once more, ready to strike.

"I activate the effect of my Temporal Scale! Since I have no monsters left, neither do you!" Mina reminded. Ryo didn't seem phased though.

"I don't think so Mina! Due to my Guildmaster's Hammer, you can't activate spells or traps until his attack is over with!"

"What?"

Ryo's Justiciar slammed his hammer down on Mina, and as she lost the rest of her life points, I saw the hologram of her trap card flip upward.

"_Huh?"_

An explosion occurred in the battle field, and holographic smoke filled the stage, I looked down at the arena. The smoke began to clear and I saw the field empty. Something was wrong though.

"Where's the buzzer? A buzzer is suppose to sound whenever somebody wins the duel right?" I asked Riley, who was examining the still clearing field just as much as I was.

"Someone must not have won then." was all Riley could say. As the smoke fully cleared, I finally got a glimpse of both Ryo's and Mina's life point counters.

**Ryo:** 0 LP

**Mina:** 0 LP

"_WHAT?"_

"Wait... what just happened?" I heard Ryo asked from down below as he looked at his life point counter.

"After you attacked, my trap card automatically activated. Which by the way, was Safety Release." Mina smiled as she just stood there with her field empty now.

"Wait... Safety Release?"

"That's right, Safety Release activates whenever I take direct damage, and with it my opponent takes the same amount of damage I take due to the attack for the remainder of the turn."

"Are you serious?" I gasped aloud from the balcony.

"So since your monster had 4000... no... 5000 attack points due to it's effect, you lost due to my trap."

"But Justiciar's ability prevents traps from being activated during the battle phase of my turn!"

"Exactly, and the second your Justiciar finished it's attack your battle phase did end. Even though I lost all my life points it doesn't stop my automatic trap cards from activating."

I looked over to Riley at this, hoping to get a second opinion on this confusing matter. Riley thought about this for a moment, and eventually sighed.

"I suppose... technically speaking... Mina is right." Riley moaned, leaning back in his chair.

"_Oh man."_

It didn't take long for me to rush down the balcony and back into the duel arena, and once I was there I unleashed my metaphorical fury.

"That's not fair! You lost all your life points, so you can't activate your traps!" I interjected. As far as I knew, a duel was automatically won the second someone's life points hit zero, so this outcome seemed rather unfair to me.

"Haru, give it a rest man, she lost, and so did I. It's better than her winning and me losing." Ryo sighed. He seemed a little dismal about his lose, but he sucked it up for Mina's sake and walked up to her, extending his hand. "Good game there Mina, you're an awesome duelist."

Mina seemed a little confused on this gesture. I'm guessing she was expecting Ryo to be a sore loser or something. Eventually, Mina figured it out and took his hand to shake it.

"Right back at ya." Mina smiled. I could see Ryo's expression turn to distress as though Mina's grip on him was intense, but he tried to hold the expression that he had.

After that whole duel, I realized that I haven't been giving Ryo enough credit. It took an insane amount of skill to last as long as he did in that duel. I only lasted one turn, but he lasted throughout the entire thing and he even nearly won. That itself was either skill or an insane amount of luck. Either way he deserved the outcome he got rather than the outcome I had predicted.

Something was off though. You know that feeling you get when you're being watched? I suddenly had a huge shot of that feeling just now. When I looked up at the glass ceiling of the duel arena, I saw someone up top. It was a figure that I couldn't make out from the distance I was at. Whoever it was it was dressed in black and had it's face covered by it's hood. A typically cliché kind of person who spies on other that you normally see in the movies.

"Huh?" I grunted, staring a little hard at this figure.

"Yo Haru, something wrong?" Ryo asked as he flexed his hand as though he just released it from intense pain. I turned over to Ryo and back at the figure. However, when I did this, the figure up top was gone.

"Uh... no... nothing." I sighed.

HeroSpirit: "Well, how'd you like it?"

Ryo: "I lost..."

HeroSpirit: "But Mina lost too..."

Ryo: "But I lost..."

HeroSpirit: "But this shows that your just as strong as Mina..."

Ryo: "But I LOST!"

Haru: "Give it up Hero, there's no getting to him."


	7. Chapter 7: The Psychic Duelist

Yu-Gi-Oh: Rise of Arcadia

Chapter 7: The Psychic Duelist

HeroSpirit: "It's about time we lean a little towards the main plot of the fanfic."

Haru: "Which would be?"

HeroSpirit: "The Arcadia Movement of course! We should start things off by introducing psychic dueling."

Ryo: "I'm scared as to where this is going to go."

Once Ryo's and my own test score results were in we were given envelopes in which we were supposed to show to our parents when we got home. However, due to Ryo's and Riley's and of course my own lack of parental supervision, we decided just to go home and open it up ourselves. This didn't take us that long as Ryo insisted we all run home so he could see his test scores. What stopped him from opening the envelope on the way home I'll never know.

"Home sweet home, but more importantly... test scores sweet test scores!" Ryo smiled as he rushed into the house and completely crashed onto the couch with the envelope in hand.

"Please don't keep us in suspense oh great one. Show us what grade you got." Riley sarcastically remarked. I didn't blame Riles for saying something like that, as you should have heard Ryo after the test was over. He was ranting about how he aced it and how maybe he should "be teaching the class a thing or two". Even though confidence is something I admired about Ryo, there's a difference between being confident and being full of yourself.

"Well prepare yourself gents, because my results are _in_!" Ryo preached as he ripped the top of the while envelope and tore out the paper that was inside. The paper was folded into thirds, and as he unfolded it Ryo's expression grew intense. He was studying the paper and scanning it to see where his final grade was. Finally, he smirked and jumped from the couch. "C plus! Oh yeah! I am _so_ the man!" Ryo cheered as he preformed an extremely dorky victory dance in front of us.

"Wow, your first passing grade for the performance exams. I'm impressed. What was your grade, Haru?" Riley curiously asked as I looked at my envelope. To be honest I wasn't really curious about my grade. Why I don't know, but I wasn't. I guess that I might as well take a look at it. I mean, at least I know that I passed because I won my duel. I tore my envelope and read the paper inside.

"A minus, awesome!" I grinned. I silently patted myself on the back for a test well passed.

"What? How come you got a better grade than I did? I was totally awesome in my duel!" Ryo frustratedly boasted, taking the paper from my hands and examining it.

"Gee, I don't know. Call me crazy, but it might have something to do with the fact that I _won_ my duel." I snapped back with a joking snicker.

"Man Ryo, I'm sure it's obvious by now, but you can get really competitive during testing." Riles so very sharply observed as he shook his head at both of our behavior.

"Well whatever. This is still the first test that I got a passing grade on, and I say we should celebrate!" Ryo insisted as he tossed my paper back to me and switched his gaze between Riley and I.

"Celebrate? How do you plan on doing this?" I eagerly asked.

"I think you know exactly how I plan on doing it."

"Wait, you don't mean..."

"I must certainly do."

I smiled at this, as I knew all to well of what it meant. In case you all were wondering, Ryo was insinuating that well all head to the Autrix café for some well deserved food. That specific cafe is where we always went on special occasions ever since we were small, as it had some of the best sweets in all of New Domino City. I of course, always ordered the strawberry shortcake with a creamed coffee. With the two in such a combination, it made a heavenly taste that could be replaced by no other.

"Lets go then, it'll be Riley's treat!" Ryo insisted as he walked towards the door.

"What? Why me? Why do I have to pay?" Riley protested.

"Because you're the only one who didn't take his duel performance exam, and it's a two way street. Once you get a good grade on your test, Haru and I will pay for your meal at the café tomorrow!" Ryo attempted to explain. I couldn't help but think of the multiple holes in that logic of Ryo's.

"That's totally not fair! First of all we should-.." Riley started, but I couldn't help but interrupt.

"Come on Riles, please? While we sit here arguing the shortcake at the café is getting dry. Come on! We'll pay you back." I promised. Riley couldn't help but feel a little sorry for me, and went with it.

"Yeah, you better pay me back."

It didn't take us that long to get to the café, as it wasn't far from our home. A couple of blocks at most, that's what made it so convenient. We all took our normal seats inside the café.. or wait.. was it outside? You know, you can really never tell because most of the cafe doesn't have a roof on it. That's the only reason it received so much publicity. It was like being outside except you're not and yet you are. Oxymorons are fun, aren't they? The only bad part about this architectural design is that it was forced to close all fall and winter.

"I feel like trying the blue eyes white jade tea, it sounds awesome." Ryo stated as he examined his menu.

"Ok, first of all Ryo, you hate tea, all types of tea, and second, you better order something you'll eat as it comes out of my allowance." Riley irritatingly sighed.

"Relax Riles, after all we both get a pretty decent allowance." Ryo interjected.

"Can you guys remind me why _I_ don't get an allowance?" I suddenly asked out of nowhere. The twins seemed to ignore this question as they examined their menus. I already knew what I was ordering, so I was just sitting back. That's when I noticed a couple of customers started to get up and walk out. It was a little weird as I remembered seeing them actually enter the cafe alongside the rest of us. This couple in which looked like they were on a date seemed to be in a quiet argument, I tried to listen in best I could. Why did I want to eavesdrop on a couple of stranger's conversations you ask? I had to think of _something_ to do while I waited, and I already counted the number of flowers on the bushes outside the cafe window.

"I still don't think coming over here was a good idea." the girl seemed to whisper as what I was assuming was her boyfriend seemed to grab her to keep her from leaving.

"Oh come on Cynthia, are you still upset about that news report?" the guy asked as who I was assuming was Cynthia pulled her arm away.

"Of course I am! It said it was right near a turbo dueling highway, and I really don't feel like going somewhere that could be potentially dangerous."

"There's nothing dangerous about a café. Why can't we just sit and enjoy the coffee."

"Because those attacks have been happening every day now. Who knows where it'll happen next."

"What are the odds of that figure coming here of all places?"

I found this a little interesting. I mean not only did I have no idea what they were talking about, but it seemed like it would be a good idea to pay attention to something that could be dangerous.

"Hey Haru, do you think banana bread goes good with strawberry milk in terms of settling with the stomach?" Ryo curiously asked looking up from his menu. "Hey, you ok?"

"Uh... yeah. Have you guys heard things concerning events that have been going on near a turbo duel highway?" I asked. I tried to make the question seem out-of-the-blue, and I think I succeeded.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I heard a few news reports about it. Apparently there have been some weird chemical explosions going on near a specific district. Apparently the district is near a major turbo dueling highway, and everyone is a little shaken up about it. Why do you ask?" Riley explained. I leaned a little backward in my seat and looked up.

"I don't know. It just seems weird to have a bunch of explosions happen in a particular district." I sighed, leaning back forward in my seat. "Wait a second. Isn't this café near a duel highway?"

"About a block down, yeah. Why?" Ryo double questioned, looking back down at his menu.

"Well don't you think it's a little dangerous for us to be here with stuff like this happening?"

"I think you're worrying too much, Haru. What are the chances of an explosion occurring in a café?" Riley chuckled a little. Finding my worry a little funny.

"I'm not saying we're in danger of getting caught in one, I just think that maybe we should be staying away in case of-.." I started, before Ryo interrupted.

"In case of what? The oven in the café suddenly exploding because someone turned the heat up too high? Relax Haru, if we get into trouble we can duel our way out of it." Ryo smiled.

"Duel our way out of it? Are you serious? I guess you could also duel your way out of the hospital you'll be visiting after being treated for your third degree burns." I growled.

"Haru, I think you're taking this too far. All we really need to do is-..." Riley started. Unfortunately, he was interrupted by the sound of glass suddenly and loudly shattering. Some of the table's chairs tipped over and I jumped from my seat.

"What in the..." I gasped as I started running to the cafe's entrance. The cafe's windows were destroyed, and I felt head shards of glass digging into my shoes as I walked around. Ryo and Riley weren't too far behind as I shoved aside the door... or rather the frame of the now shattered glass door, and went outside. I saw a neighboring building not to far from the cafe ablaze.

"_My god, what just happened?"_

For some crazy reason, I felt compelled to run towards the dangerous and fiery building just to see if anyone was in it. It was far enough where I could stay a safe distance from it and still keep out of the road. Fortunately, I didn't hear any screaming which could mean one of two things. Either the building was empty... or it's occupants were dead. I did see one form of life though, and it was walking out the building's charred door that had fallen to the ground by now. Once I saw the figure, I gasped.

"_Deja vu."_

It was the same figure that I had seen right after Mina's and Ryo's duel. The same one that I had seen through the glass ceiling before I left the school. This guy was either the same guy, or it was another guy with a similar taste in fashion.

"Hey!" I called out to the masked figure. He seemed to turn his hooded face over to me to see where that noise was coming from. "What do you think you're doing! Did _you_ do this?"

"_What am I saying, of course he did it."_

"Stand aside sir, as my quarrel is not with you. My business is done here." he said in a hollow tone and deep voice. He was saying it like he was depressed or something.

"It is if you think you can get away with arson! Wait until sector security gets here, because you'll-..."

"Sector security has failed to stop me countless times." he suddenly interrupted; turning a little towards me. It was so funny, I was looking at this guy from his right side so I didn't see what he was wearing on his left arm. Once I did see it though, I was extremely confused.

"_Why... why is this guy wearing a duel disk?"_

It was indeed a duel disk, one that I had never seen anything like. It was a perfectly rectangular duel disk that seemed to be as slim as his arm was. On the duel disk was a fiery design and a bright red and orange paint job. The duel disk's card slots was another slightly curved rectangular shape that extended beyond the disk's slim appearance. On the end of the cart slot's tips were pieces of red plastic in the shape of flames. I could tell that fire had to be this guy's favorite object in the universe.

"Haru! What are you doing man!" Ryo seemed to ask and yet didn't say like a question. He ran up beside me and caught his breath. "Are you nuts man? This guy is clearly off his rocker, we need to leave."

I ignored Ryo's comment and continued with the conversation.

"Why are you here? What reason did you have for setting that building on fire?" I questioned as the figure turned a little farther towards me.

"This is not your concern. Now if you excuse me I have more to do." the figure hollowly answered.

"More to do? You mean more buildings to set ablaze." I snapped.

"I did not wish for you to see what must be done."

"Must be done? What the heck are you talking about? Were there people inside that building?"

"People who deserved what was coming to them."

"Oh boy, so you're an arsonist _and_ a murderer, what a fabulous combination!"

"Are you quite finished? I have better things to do."  
>"Such as burning more people? Don't you realize what you're doing is wrong?"<p>

I scolded this person as Riley started to approach and came by my side as well.

"Haru, we need to get out of here. If that guy set that building on fire we could be next." Riley panted. I couldn't focus on Riley's words, as I was furious that guy just set a building on fire probably with people still in it, and he didn't seem to care. All I could stare at was the stranger's duel disk.

"Ryo, you brought your backpack right? Gimme your duel disk." I insisted.

"What?" Ryo asked, confused as hell by this point.

"This guy is a duelist, if he won't listen to my reason maybe he'll listen to my deck. Gimme your duel disk... now." I asserted as I gave Ryo a fierce expression.

"Haru, are you insane? We need to get out of here and call sector security!" Riley insisted trying to pull me backwards.

"Fine then! Go call sector security and I'll keep this guy distracted by dueling him until they get here." I compromised. Ryo and Riley could see I was hell bent on dueling this guy, and Ryo reluctantly handed me his duel disk. I grabbed it and slid it onto my arm only to hear the disk's wrist clamp click shut. It was securely on my wrist which allowed me to enter my deck.

"What are you doing?" the stranger asked.

"I'm not going to let you get away with this. You're a duelist right? So we'll settle this the way all duelists handle things. We duel. I win, you turn yourself in to sector security when they get here. You win, I'll let you go. Deal?" I offered. The stranger's expressionless concealed face was hard to read, but after a few moments he lifted his head up.

"Very well then." he decided, taking our decks from our pockets and sliding them into the deck slots of our duel disks.

"Duel!"

**Haru:** 4000 LP

**Stranger: **4000 LP

"Be careful man." Ryo advised as he started running from the scene. The twins were going to head to the café to grab a phone and report the incident to sector security while I was here to make sure this guy stayed here until they got here.

"Allow me to make the first move. I'll start by playing the spell card, Inflammatory Reactor." the stranger insisted as he placed a spell card onto the field with a picture of an old, black, wood-burning stove. The stove suddenly popped out of the card and slammed onto the field with a metal-on-metal sound. "My Inflammatory Reactor will activate whenever I summon a pyro-type monster onto my field, and with my reactor you take 100 points of damage times the level of the monster I summon. So I'll now summon Dark Flame Tricky! (1000ATK/1000DEF)" The stranger swiped a card from his hand and slammed into onto his duel disk, only to have a blue portal open in the middle of our field and have fly out a large fireball-looking monster. The monster crashed onto the stranger's field and began to take a humanoid shape. Gaining pitch black eyes and a black mouth that you normally see on jack o' lanterns. "Now because my Dark Flame Tricky is a level two monster, you take 200 points of damage duel to Inflammatory Reactor."

The stranger's wood-burning stove suddenly opened up, and unleashed a heat wave that crashed itself directly into me. I screamed as the heat wave collided with my skin, and I collapsed onto the ground.

"_Something is wrong, that didn't feel like a hologram."_

What I thought was true, as the reactor activated, I could feel a deep burning sensation throughout my body, and I wasn't just imagining things. I suddenly started to pull up my pant-leg as I kneeled myself up to examine what was under it.

"_My skin is all red. It's like it really felt the heat from the reactor."_

I stood myself up all the way with only slight difficulty. The stranger stood there like he knew exactly what he had just done.

"I'll end my turn with a face down card. You're move." he hollowly said as he turned it over to me. I drew from my deck, and only one thing ran through my mind. This single thought was...

_"What have I just gotten myself into?"_

HeroSpirit: "Ah, Haru's first encounter with a-.."

Ryo: "Wow! Don't spoil the surprise!"

HeroSpirit: "Sorry, I hadn't realized that a bunch of idiots were reading this fanfic. I'm sure everyone knows what the stranger is."

Ryo: "But... I don't..."

HeroSpirit: "Exactly."


	8. Chapter 8: If You Can't Stand the Heat

Yu-Gi-Oh: Rise of Arcadia

Chapter 8: If You Can't Stand the Heat...

HeroSpirit: "The psychic duel between the masked stranger and Haru continues!"

Haru: "Please tell me I'll live through this..."

HeroSpirit: "I'm not at liberty to reveal that."

Haru: "Oh man..."

**Haru:** 3800 LP

**Stranger: **4000 LP

I re-examined the field to recap what's been going on. The stranger had a spell card called Inflammatory Reactor which deals damage to me every time he summons a pyro monster, and a Dark Flame Tricky on the field with 1000 attack and defense points. All he had besides that was a face down card. Not only that, but I had the worry that this duel wasn't going to be like a normal one. This was because the last time that Inflammatory Reactor activated, it was like I could feel the heat coming from it. I couldn't let that stop me though.

"My move! I'll start by activating the spell card, Paid Loan!" I called as I revealed a spell card with a picture of a suited man holding a briefcase full of money. "This spell card lets me draw two cards from my deck as long as I pay 500 life points next turn." I explained as I drew from my deck and examined what I drew.

"_Kuriclone and Five Star Twilight? Well I could use Kuriclone, not sure how I could use Five Star Twlight though."_

"Next I summon to the field, Winged Kuriboh! (300ATK/200DEF)" I called as my furry puff ball took to the field with his tiny angel wings. "I'll end my turn with a face down card from there."

"Very well then, my move." the stranger stated blankly as he drew. "I'll start this turn by activating my face down card, Loyalty of Flame!" the stranger pointed as he revealed his face down card with a picture of townspeople looking upward to an erupting volcano. "With this trap card, all monsters on the field are treated as pyro-type monsters. Not only that, but if two monsters battle, the battle damage taken by players is doubled."

"Great..." I muttered to myself as his trap took effect. Before I knew it, my Winged Kuriboh's body was set entirely ablaze as his trap took effect. Now that it was on the field, my Winged Kuriboh was not a pyro-type monster.

"Next, my Dark Flame Tricky attacks your Winged Kuriboh!" the stranger commanded as his flame-composed monster opened it's hole for a mouth and unleashed a fire blast upon my monster. I could feel the heat radiating from the blast as my Kuriboh shattered and the Dark Flame Tricky ceased fire. Giving me a break from the heat.

"I activate my face down card, Kuriclone!" I called as a familiar spell card flipped up on my field. "My Kuriclone spell card can be activated when a Kuriboh monster is recently destroyed on my field. With it, I can take another Kuriboh monster with the same name as the destroyed one from my deck to my hand!" I smiled. As I explained this, I could see the duel disk beginning the randomize and shuffle my deck until it laid perfectly still with a single card slightly extended out at the top. I took this card to see it was another Winged Kuriboh card. "Next I activate Winged Kuriboh's special ability! Because of this, my Winged Kuriboh prevents any battle damage from coming to me, which means I'm safe from the battle damage doubling trap card Loyalty of Flame!"

"Well played, but that won't protect you for long. I end my turn." the stranger dismally said. I drew from my deck.

"My move then! Before I begin my turn, the effect of my Paid Loan spell card activates and forces me to pay 500 life points for the extra cards I drew last turn." I stated as I looked back at my life point counter.

**Haru:** 3300 LP

**Stranger: **4000 LP

"Next I summon back to my field, Winged Kuriboh! (300ATK/200DEF)" I called forth. The magical blue portal opened up once more and brought forth Winged Kuriboh, who gently floated to my side of the field. A vengeful look on it's mouthless face. I'm guessing it was made for having one of it's counterparts destroyed last turn. It took only seconds for this new Kuriboh to be set ablaze due to the Loyalty of Flame trap though, meaning it was now a pyro-type monster. "Next, from my hand I equip the spell card... Massive Determination!" I called as I revealed the equip spell in which I used previously against Takuya in my duel with him.

"Huh?" the stranger grunted, actually showing a little emotion in his response.

"My Massive Determination's effect activates whenever one of my monsters attacks another monster with higher attack points than it has, and get this, with the equip spell Winged Kuriboh gets 1000 attack points because it's attacking Dark Flame Tricky! Go Winged Kuriboh! (1300ATK/200DEF) Destroy his monster!"

My fire-coated Kuriboh charged it's charring attack at Dark Flame Tricky, and as the two collided an explosion occurred, sending another burst of heat both our ways. I felt a trickle of sweat run down my cheek as the attack was a success.

"By the way, don't forget your Loyalty of Flame trap card! With your own trap, your battle damage is doubled!" I reminded rather smugly as my Kuriboh returned to my field.

**Haru:** 3300 LP

**Stranger:** 3400 LP

"I activate Dark Flame Tricky's ability." the stranger said rather unbothered by the attack.

"Huh?" I gasped, unknowing of what I had just done.

"With Dark Flame Tricky destroyed as a result of battle, I summon two more copies of Dark Flame Tricky from my deck." the stranger blankly said as another blue portal opened on the field, revealing two duplicates of the same monster that I just destroyed.

"_Great. One step forward and two steps back."_

"Next I activate the effect of Inflammatory Reactor. Because these monsters are level two and pyro-type, you take 400 points of damage." the stranger reminded as the stove once again opened and unleashed another wave of heat against me. I groaned as this heat pressed against my skin, and I fell to one knee as I started to pant. My body couldn't take much more of that card.

"_Alright then, make that three steps back."_

**Haru: **2900 LP

**Stranger: **3400 LP

I stood up moments latter, flapping about the front of my shirt trying to get some flowing air down there. I was really starting to sweat now, as I could even feel the heat from the stranger's monsters from over here.

"Are you quite finished?"

"I am."

"Then it's my move." the stranger called as he drew from his deck. He turned to the card he drew and seemed to quietly chuckle. "I activate the field spell, Dark Flame Forge!"

"Huh? A field spell?" I gasped, trying to recall what a field spell even was.

"_Oh yeah! I remember talking about field spells in class. Field spells are special spell cards that can heavily impact the way a duel is conducted. While all field spells are continuous, some can be twisted to your advantage."_

I began to see the scenery of this duel heavily change. Instead of dueling on the side of a highway, I was started to visualize myself in the middle of a factory. This factory seemed to have tons of molten metal like a refinery, and several hard coal-burning stoves were nearby. I loosened the collar of my shirt, and wondered why this place had to be so hot.

"_Oh yeah, and field spells also change around the scenery. Forgot about that part."_

"Because of Dark Flame Forge's effect, I can summon a Dark Flame monster from my graveyard in exchange for another pyro monster in my hand. So I'll sacrifice Dark Flame Hunt from my hand to summon my third Dark Flame Tricky! (1000ATK/1000DEF)"

"_Oh boy."_

"And my Dark Flame Forge's secondary effect increases the attack points of all my Dark Flame monsters by 500 points."

"_That's... not good either."_

"Now Dark Flame Tricky! (1500ATK/1000DEF) Attack Winged Kuriboh!"

"_That's SERIOUSLY not good!"_

I saw the flaming monster burn my new Kuriboh to a crisp with it's fiery breath before my eyes, and annoyed by this, I scowled.

"Once again, my Winged Kuriboh's effect activates, preventing any battle damage I take this turn! Which means your Dark Flame Trickys will have to wait another turn to take me out." I reminded, but I also reminded myself that was a close call. If it hadn't been for Winged Kuriboh's effect, I would have been taken out by those other two Trickys this turn. I had to draw a game changer right now or else I would be in for it.

"I'll end my turn."

"Then I draw!" I called, placing my hand on my deck, taking the top card without looking just yet.

"_Come on deck, if I don't get something good now I'm done for."_

I turned over the card I drew so that I could see it. It was actually something that I had yet to use. I turned the cart to my face in order to read the text at the bottom of the card. Once I did, all I could do was grin.

"_Oh yeah, this will do."_

"From my hand I summon the monster, Kuribon! (300ATK/200DEF)" I shouted. The bright blue portal once again took to the field to summon my... less than intimidating monster. Kuribon was suddenly set ablaze due to Loyalty of Flame. However, this card wouldn't be on the field for very long. "Next I activate the spell card, Power Adjuster!"

"What?" the stranger curiously asked as I played this card. My spell card's hologram appeared on the field with a picture of a car battery with two wires sticking out of it. The car battery from the card soon appeared on the field and extended it's wires around my Kuribon monster. It wasn't long before Kuribon was completely tied up by the wires and I continued my turn.

"My Power Adjuster is a spell card that allows me to send cards from my hand to the graveyard. For every card I send, a selected monster on my field gets 1000 attack points and two extra levels until the end of my turn! The only condition is that I cannot conduct my battle phase next turn." I explained. I selected two cards cards from my hand and placed them into the graveyard slot of Ryo's duel disk. "So I'll be discarding two cards so Kuribon gains 2000 attack points and four extra levels for the remainder of this turn!"

The wires from the car battery that appeared on my field shattered, and my Kuribon had a bright green, ominous, and fiery glow about it. Kuribon looked bright and ready to fight. Although, my intention wasn't to have Kuribon fight. Since Kuribon was now a level five monster thanks to Power Adjuster, I had different plans for it.

"So then, you're going to attack now, is that it?" the stranger asked. I saw him reach for his hand for a card he was holding.

"_This guy has a card in his hand that can counter my attack if I do attack this turn. I can tell. That's alright though, because I won't be attacking this turn."_

"Actually, I'll be activating the spell card... Five Star Twilight from my hand!" I shouted as I revealed my spell card. The spell card had a bright and colorful picture of several Kuriboh monsters floating themselves upon multi-colored stars.

"What is this?" the stranger seemed to gasp, stepping back. Could he have heard of the card?

"My Five Star Twilight can only be activated when I have a level five monster on my field, and thanks to Power Adjuster, my Kuribon fits that bill! Thanks to Five Star Twilight, I can sacrifice Kuribon, my level five monster, so I can summon five level _one_ monsters."

"What?" the stranger gasped. I'm sure to him this meant I was going to bring out several stronger monsters in which he wouldn't be able to defend against. Boy oh boy will he be disappointed.

"From Five Star Twilight comes five new monsters! I summon, Kuribah (300ATK/200DEF), Kuribeh (300ATK/200DEF), Kuribih (300ATK/200DEF), Kuriboh (300ATK/200DEF), and Kuribuh!(300ATK/200DEF) Otherwise known as... the five Kuriboh brothers!"

My spell card known as Five Star Twilight forced my empowered Kuribon to glow as it was dragged into the card, sucking it in like a portal or some sort of door. Afterwards came my new monsters, in which they emerged through blinding multi-colored lights. As the five lights rested on my field, they revealed the monsters in which the lights were being emitted from. These new Kuriboh monsters looked strange at best. As they looked like normal Kuribohs with the acceptation of their odd fur colors. Kuribah, the first one, had a sort of sky blue tone to his fur. Kuribeh, the second, had a bright green coat which seemed hard to miss. Kuribih was my third monster with a bright, hot pink coat as it's appearance. Oddly enough though, the fourth Kuriboh brother was the original Kuriboh, which kept it's brown fur color. The fifth brother on the other hand, Kuribuh, had a stainless white coat that made it stand out. It didn't take these new monsters long to be set ablaze due to Loyalty of Flame's effect. Together these monsters looked ready, and I had a feeling that they were going to be useful.

"Congratulations, you took one _useful _monster and turned it into five _useless_ ones." the stranger seemed to mock as he clapped his hands together.

"My Kuriboh brothers are far from useless, hothead, as I'm activating Kuribuh's special ability!"

"What?"

"That's right, thanks to my white Kuriboh brother, I can discard a trap card from my hand to decrease the attack points of a monster you have by a full 1500 points!"

The stranger didn't like the sound of that, and took a step back getting ready for my effect.

"From my hand I discard the trap known as Level Buster so I can activate Kuribuh's effect!" I commanded as Kuribuh suddenly flew to the middle of the field and charged at my Kuriboh brothers.

"_Huh?"_

After that the most curious thing happened. Kuribuh actually started to... swallow his brothers with a non-existent mouth. I guess it wasn't eating more like absorbing, but one by one he swept the field till all his brothers were inside him, and by the time Kuribuh's meal was done he was the size of a boulder. Kuribuh then swiped himself into a ball and began to roll at one of the stranger's Dark Flame Trickys. Because of Loyalty of Flame's visual effect, he looked like a fireball launched at the monster. Kuribuh's now large stature crashed into Dark Flame Tricky, and knocked the flaming monster off it's feet. Kuribuh, now performed it's ability, launched back up into the air where the Kuriboh brothers seemed to pop back out of Kuribuh through his structure. Once all five Kuriboh brothers were back on my field, I scratched my head.

"_Um... ok then..."_

"Now that you're Dark Flame Tricky is out of attack points, I'll have Kuriboh attack it!" I smiled as my furry friend launched itself like a bullet at the now powerless flaming monster and crashed into it. "Don't forget your Loyalty of Flame's effect! The battle damage you take from this battle is 600 thanks to it!"

**Haru:** 2900 LP

**Stranger:** 2800 LP

"_Yes! I'm back in the lead!"_

The smoke from the previous attack cleared, and I saw the stranger dust himself off, seeming totally unchallenged by the attack.

"_Man, that's not fair! Here I am taking the heat from his cards and he isn't affected at all!"_

"Are you quite finished?" the stranger dismally said. I nodded.

"Yeah, I end my turn."

"Then it's my move!" the stranger called as he drew from his deck. "You're Kuribohs are slightly more impressive than expected, but you left a fatal flaw in your strategy."

"What might that be?" I curiously asked.

"You left them all in attack mode without any face-downs. Go, Dark Flame Tricky! (1500ATK/1000DEF) Attack Kuribah!" the stranger commanded as his second fire-based monster on the field unleashed it's fiery breath. I knew this was coming, and I was prepared.

"Not so fast, hothead! I activate _Kuribih's _special ability!"

"What?" the stranger seemed to ask, apparently not expecting that.

"Thanks to my pink Kuriboh brother, whenever he's on the field with the rest of his brothers, he _can_ and _will_ negate any attack that you try and launch against them!"

I saw Kuribih heroically charge itself against the Dark Flame Tricky. Once a few feet in front, it held a pink star in it's hands that seemed to suddenly appear. This pink star began to grow and shape into a shield that protected Kuribih from the fiery breath waged by the stranger. Once done, Kuribih floated back to my field and turned to give me a thumbs-up with it's three-fingered limb.

"With that done, are _you_ done?" I confidently said as I crossed my arms waiting on the stranger.

"Not quite. From my hand I summon the tuner monster... Dark Flame Hunt (1500ATK/1100DEF)" the stranger shouted as another blue portal opened to reveal a figure riding on some sort of bird. This bird was a bright red with wings made of pure fire, and on top of the bird was a man in an iron suit standing on it's back. "Since I just summoned a monster, by the way, Inflammatory Reactor activates dealing 300 points of damage because Dark Flame Hunt is level three!"

I saw the stove on the stranger's field open up once more, and unleash it's unbearable heat upon me and my life points. I yelled in pain as the blast from that attack seemed to be more painful than the others. The blast once again brought me to my knees, but I steadied myself enough to keep from falling all the way.

**Haru:** 2600 LP

**Stranger: **2800 LP

"Next, I'm going to synchronize Dark Flame Hunt with my Dark Flame Trickys!" the stranger explained as his new monster that just recently appeared suddenly shattered. Leaving behind only three white orbs that began to circle themselves around the flame-based monsters which were now back to back. The orbs circled around faster and fast until they made three solid rings. The Dark Flame Trickys inside began to glow, and created a blinding light that forced me to shut my eyes.

"_Three plus two plus two is a level seven synchro monster. This cannot be good."_

"Synchro summon! Dark Flame Assassin! (2300ATK/1800DEF)" I heard the stranger yell as the light began to clear. Revealing a lizard-like monster with scaly skin and a cloak covering a lot of it's body. The monster held two knives, and it's tongue flickered in and out every so often like a snake. "I'll end my turn afterwards."

"_This guy knows if he attacks with that synchro monster I'll just counter it with my Kuriboh brothers. I have to figure out how to take that thing off the field if I want to take out his life points."_

"My move!" I informed as I drew from my deck. I couldn't help but think it would be a hard task to take that card out with just my Kuribohs. However, once I saw the card I drew, I realized it was going to be easier than I thought.

HeroSpirit: "This duel is going to be a three-parter."

Ryo: "Is anyone else curious as to why sector security isn't here yet? The duel has been going for I don't know how long."

HeroSpirit: "I think it's realistic. In most of the yu-gi-oh animes help never arrives until the duel is over."


	9. Chapter 9: Get Out of the Kitchen

Yu-Gi-Oh: Rise of Arcadia

Chapter 9: ...Get Out of the Kitchen

HeroSpirit: Uh... well... I have practically nothing to say right now. I'm running out of these opening statements. How about you all just enjoy this chapter ok?

**Haru: **1900 LP

**Stranger:** 2800 LP

I reviewed the field as I was about to play the card I just drew. I had to be sure it was safe to play this combo before I actually did it. From what I could tell the stranger had no face down cards, and his Dark Flame Assassin (2300ATK/1800DEF) didn't seem like it had any special abilities. If it did, I would be screwed after this combo.

"From my deck I activate the effect of Kuribabylon!" I smiled. The moment I said this, my Kuriboh brothers began to get a strange blue glow about them all.

"From your... deck?" the stranger curiously asked.

"That's right! My Kuribabylon can activate it's effect wherever it is as long as I have the five Kuriboh brothers on the field. With it I can remove from play all five Kuriboh brothers so I can summon Kuribabylon to the field!" I explained as one by one, the Kuriboh brothers flew into the air seeming to jump. They seemed to make a star formation as they all held each other's limbs like they were skydiving. The brothers began to glow, and in the brothers' places appeared a blue summoning portal, and from that portal came my new monster. "Come forth! Kuribabylon! (1500ATK/1500DEF)"

This newly appeared monster looked like a Kuriboh who was victim to a mutation experiment. It was at least five times the size of a regular Kuriboh, and it had a dark blue fur coat with bony, grey feet on it's body. No legs, just feet. A large grey horn extended on it's forehead and fangs riddled it's huge mouth. Kuribabylon landed on my field with a stomp, and it growled at the other monsters and set ablaze due to Loyalty to Flame. The stranger laughed at my new monster.

"That big show for such a weak monster? It isn't even strong enough to take out my synchro monster." the stranger mocked. I knew better than to judge a monster by it's attack points though, and I was about to prove my point.

"Before I continue, I'll activate the equip spell, Diamond Coat!" I yelled as I slotted the spell card in. The spell had a bright picture of a large shard of shining crystal with a humanoid silhouette inside of it. "For the remainder of this turn, Diamond Coat prevents my Kuribabylon from being destroyed by card effects and battle. Go Kuribabylon! Attack Dark Flame Assassin!"

"What?" the stranger asked in confusion.

Kuribabylon gladly changed into battle, and Diamond Coat activated causing large shards of crystal to shoot from the spell card's hologram and stick to my Kuribabylon until it was like a diamond statue. Kuribabylon charged it's now diamond-covered horn into combat, and attempted to stab it into Dark Flame Assassin. The two monsters became locked in combat when Dark Flame Assassin grabbed Kuribabylon's horn, and the stranger seemed to chuckle.

"So you doomed yourself I see. I believe you neglected to see that your monster has less attack points, and with Dark Flame Forge as a field spell my Assassin's attack points become 2800. The difference between 2800 and 1500 is 1200. Plus, your battle damage is doubled because of Loyalty of Flame. So it appears I've won this duel!" the stranger chuckled as he watched our monsters.

"Not exactly." I smiled, taking a card from my hand.

"What?"

"From my hand I activate the spell card, Vengeful Charge!"

A spell card hologram appeared on my field, and with it a picture of a raging bull with bright red eyes was on it. Charging at the bull was a wounded matador with his red cape ablaze.

"Vengeful Charge is a spell card I can activate during my own battle phase whenever I'm about to take battle damage. With it, I can redirect all that damage to my opponent! The only condition is that I have to take half the damage I would have taken without this card's effect." I explained as my diamond-coated Kuribabylon began to glow a bright red. This red aura suddenly bursted out throughout the entire duel space, and it hit the stranger and myself full force causing our life points to drop.

**Haru:** 700 LP

**Stranger: **400 LP

"_It costed me a huge chunk of my points, but I manged to get back into the lead... and I'm just about to win it."_

With this thought, I looked at the final card in my hand. This card would seal the stranger's fate for good. I just knew it.

"Now, with the final card in my hand, I activate the quick play spell card, Rigged Trap!" I shouted as my last spell card hologram appeared on my field. It donned a picture of a basic bear trap placed in a dark and empty room. "My Rigged Trap has a handy effect that lets me use a trap card in my graveyard as long as I remove the trap in question from the game afterwards and give up half my life points!"

**Haru:** 350 LP

**Stranger: **400 LP

"...And with it's effect, from my graveyard I activate the effect of Level Buster!"

"Level... Buster?" the stranger questioned, taking a step back.

"You remember Level Buster right? It was the card I sent to my graveyard to activate Kuribuh's effect." I smiled. With that said I started to recall the moment in which I had done this.

_ "From my hand I discard the trap known as Level Buster so I can activate Kuribuh's effect!"_

The spell card hologram on my field started to glow, and it grew brighter as seconds passed. After moments the card's glowing ceased and the hologram of the spell card became a duplicate of the trap card I was activating. The spell card became a purple trap card hologram with a picture of a pistol shooting and shattering some distant disks which looked similar to the star symbols on duel monsters cards to represent a monster's level.

"Here's how Level Buster works, hothead. I select a monster on your field. Then I take that monster's level and multiply it by 400. If the number I come up with using this formula is more than you're monster's original attack points, you take damage equal to the difference and your monster is destroyed!"

"WHAT?" the stranger yelled more in an angry tone. This was one of the few times the stranger showed any emotion rather than his cold and depressing tone in this duel.

"That's right! Last I checked, seven multiplied by 400 is 2800, and since you're Dark Flame Assassin's original attack points are 2300, that's 500 points of damage right off the bat!" I smugly said as another shot of pain went through my arm. I ignored it as I activated my trap and it shot a bright yellow laser out of it's hologram. This laser launched itself directly at Dark Flame Assassin and shattered it. Not only destroying his monster but the rest of the stranger's life points.

"From my hand I activate the effect of Devril the Dark Flame!" the stranger called at the last minute reaching for his card and holding it upwards.

"Huh?" I gasped, taking a step back.

"My Devril's effect can only be activated from my hand if I'm about to take damage. With it, I can summon it to the field and have you take an equal amount of damage to your life points!"

"_The card the stranger was reaching for when I was using Kuribon. It was that card."_

I saw another blue portal open in the middle of the field to see a flaming-headed miniature monster with a robotic suit of multi-limbed armor appear. From one of these limbs appeared a blasting rifle. The rifle was pointed towards me ready to fire.

"_I'm about to take card effect damage of 500 and I don't have any cards left."_

Devril the Dark Flame took aim, and fired his mechanical rifle at me with a blast of burning flame. I felt the heat from this blast a mile away, and I attempted to dodge this attack only to be too late. As I dived to the right, the blast reached me, and although missing most of my body, left the upper part of my left arm in the crossfire. It clashed with my tissue leaving unbelievable and burning pain. I screamed as this attack made contact and crashed to the ground, holding my arm and placing pressure on it to stop some of the pain.

**Haru:** 0 LP

**Stranger:** 0 LP

"It appears this duel is a draw. So I'll see you later." the stranger coldly said, leaving me on the ground in pain as he walked off the scene.

"Wait!" I vaguely and quietly manged to get out of my mouth. "Where... are you going?"

"Our deal was if you won I would turn myself in. You didn't win. It was a draw, therefore the deal is obsolete." the stranger quickly replied as he began to walk down a dark ally next to the building that he burned down. Which by now only had very few flames still inside, and most of it was a crisp. Why, it amazed me that most of it was still standing.

The stranger left me there, injured and weak from the duel. It was only then the holograms left from the duel disappeared. What caused the delay in their disappearance I have no idea. I removed my hand from the spot in which my arm was hurt, and on my hand I saw several red markings running down my palm.

"_Blood."_

I was too weak to get up, or call for help for that matter. I could feel my blood seeping from my hand and down my shirt. My vision was starting to blur, my head was getting dizzy, and before I went out... I could hear distant police sirens.

I woke up from my incident in what only seemed like seconds. I sat straight up in a bed and looked around the room, my vision was still blurred, so I couldn't make out where I was.

"He's awake!" I heard a familiar voice say. That was when I started to realize that my body felt stiff. It was hard to move my limbs in a way that was almost painful. I looked to the side of the room to see Ryo and Riley... or at least what seemed like them... in the room with me. Ryo got up from a chair he was sitting on and Riley leaned in close on the side of the bed. My vision began to clear and I saw their worried faces.

"Where... am I.." I groaned, only vaguely recalling what had happened before at the time.

"You're in New Port Hospital. Sector security found you near the side of the duel highway once they finally got to the place that we called them about." Ryo started to explain, approaching the bed along side his twin brother.

"We were watching you duel from across the street next to the cafe. Once we saw you fall we came rushing to you. Your arm was bleeding like crazy and you were out cold." Riley finished. I started to recall what had happened little by little as they were telling their story.

"_That's right! I was dueling that dark-clothed guy. He attacked with his monster and... actually injured me."_

"What... did the doctors say?" I continued. Now that I knew that I was alive and survived that encounter, my condition was my next concern.

"They found a bunch of first and second degree burns all over your body. None of which are serious and should all heal within a month, maybe five weeks. The only serious injury they found was a full on third degree burn on your upper arm. They managed to treat it, but you're going to have a pretty big scar." Riley sighed, leaning back away from me a little.

"What I still don't get is how you got all that stuff from just a duel." Ryo pondered, scratching the back of his head and looking up.

"It wasn't just a duel."

Once I said this, Ryo and Riley turned their full attention to me. Ryo seemed to glare at me in disbelieve, and Riley had an expression of both surprise and curiosity.

"Wait... what do you mean?" Riley asked, leaning back towards me now leaning a little more forwards in my bed, but once I overextended myself I felt a sharp pain in my back and leaned a little backward.

"I said what I meant. It wasn't just a duel. The monsters, the cards, the damage, all of it was real. I felt it like I was living it. Like the cards were of the same consistency as you or me. When that guy activated that Inflammatory Reactor card for the first time, I felt the heat emitting from it. I felt my skin blistering and burning each time it was unleashed on me, and it got worse each time. Most of all, I felt that last attack from the stranger's monster that finished me off. If the duel hadn't ended in a draw and I hadn't dodged that attack, I don't know what would have happened to me." I realized, looking down at my blanketed self and looking back up at the twins. I could see that scene play back once more in my head. The look of Devril the Dark Flame activating it's effect. I was starting to feel the pain that fire blast caused me before, and I held my arm in pain. That's when I realized that a wire was sticking out of that part of my arm. I followed the wire to an IV that had some clear liquid inside of it. The typical IV that you normally see in a hospital of course.

"Haru, do you have any idea how ridiculous that sounds? A duel can't become real. It's just a game filled with holographic cards and monsters. I'm sure it felt real to you, but it wasn't. It couldn't have been, ok?" Riley tried to convince, I wasn't buying it though. He wasn't the one who dueled, I was. There was no way he could claim such a thing when he wasn't the one who experienced it.

"Do me a favor Riles, trying saying what you just said one more time after I show you all the burns I got." I snapped, frustrated that my best friend was trying to debunk something that just happened, and put me in the hospital no less.

"Haru, come on man, you probably got too close to that building that you were dueling next to and got those burns." Ryo tried to explain. Riley turned to his twin brother, a glare in his eyes.

"Ok, not that I'm trying to prove Haru's theory or anything, but that makes no sense. We were watching him the whole time, there's no way he could have gotten the burns from the building." Riley reminded. I flexed my right arm a little as I felt it getting stiff, and turned to Riley.

"Then tell us Riles... were _did_ I get the burns?" I quizzed. Riley turned back to me, and after a few moments of thought, he bit his lip and looked away. He clearly had nothing to say about the situation. That was about to time where we heard a knock on my hospital room's door.

"Sector security, may I come in?" I heard a male voice say as I went wide eyed.

"Yeah, sure." Ryo called for me as the door opened. A man in a green jacket and a blue and white helmet underneath his arm walked in. a bag was held in his other hand, and on his jacket was a police badge along with a double "S" marking.

"We finished examining the evidence of the crime scene. I came to return this duel disk along with this deck." the man said as he put down the helmet on the empty chair and reached into the bag. Taking out a zip-lock bag filled with duel monsters cards and Ryo's purple duel disk.

"Thanks man! I've been wondering when I'd get this back!" Ryo gleefully said as he grabbed his duel disk from the officer's hands and hugged it like a small child. Riley got the zip-lock bag filled with the duel monsters cards and walked over to my bed and handed them to me. I took the cards with my good arm and managed get the bag open using my teeth.

"I wish you a quick recovery. I also have to tell you that once you get out of the hospital, sector security has a few questions that we need to ask you." the officer warned as he picked up his helmet and left the room, closing the door behind him.

"_Great."_

"Are all your cards there?" Riley asked. I took the slightly messed up pile of cards from the deck, and with a little difficulty moved my injured arm to flip through the deck.

"Yeah, as far as I can tell they're all here." I sighed, slightly relieved that I didn't lose any of my cards.

"That's good. You're going to have to stay in the hospital for a few days though. They won't let you out of the hospital without a guardian signature. I already called our parents about it and they're on their way back. They kind of want a story on what happened though." Riley reported, slightly depressed on this news.

"_Well that's a little inconvenient."_

"I think the only bad part about that is you're going to miss Riley's duel performance exam tomorrow." Ryo reminded, sitting back in the empty chair.

"_You must be joking."_

I was really looking forward to seeing Riley duel, but I guess thanks to this incident I was going to miss out on it. Not only that, but I was going to miss a few days of school. That part wasn't so bad, but still, it wasn't preferable. I couldn't get that duel out of my head though. How is it that a harmless game of cards can turn into something so dangerous and deadly? I certainly didn't know. All my life I saw duel monsters as a fun and awesome game that I couldn't take my eyes off of. However, this changed my perspective quite a bit. Dare I say I might not be dueling for a long time to come. Regardless of that though, whether I was dueling or not, I had to find out who that guy I was dueling was, because somehow I knew he was dangerous and had to be put to justice.

HeroSpirit: "Ooooo a psychic duelist!"

Haru: "Ooooo...who hospitalized me."

HeroSpirit: "Don't get so uptight Haru, you'll get your chance at him."

Haru: "When."

HeroSpirit: "Soon."

Haru: "How soon?"

HeroSpirit: "About 5-10... maybe 15 chapters."

Haru: "ARRRRGGGG!"


	10. Chapter 10: Crash

Yu-Gi-Oh: Rise of Arcadia

Chapter 10: Crash...

HeroSpirit: "Last time on Rise of Arcadia..."

Haru: "You don't have to do it exactly like the anime. Just catch them up to speed in the first paragraph."

HeroSpirit: "Why must you ruin my moment?"

A full week had passed since the incident with the stranger occurred. I had gotten out of the hospital with the aid of Ryo and Riley's parents. It was a little hard explaining what had happened, and I eventually had to lie to them and say that we got to close to a building that was set ablaze and I was trying to be the hero to put it out, and eventually I had gotten caught in the fire myself. They were pretty mad, and they cut my allowance. Even though I didn't get an allowance, I didn't have the heart to tell them that. Regardless though, my injured arm was placed in a brace to prevent me from moving it for a few weeks, as some of the muscle tissue was injured due to my burn. Why either of the twins didn't tell me about this I will never know. All I knew was that I had a white brace that took up my entire upper arm and part of my shoulder. This was to prevent me from flexing my arm too far upward to a point in which the damaged tissue would become agitated.

After about three days out of the hospital I was able to return to school slightly broken. I had a lot of homework to catch up on apparently and I had little time to complete it. Not only did I have two quizzes to take, but also a report on beast-type monsters and their basic strategy. I also had a worksheet to work on that matched up the cards that would make the best combos. My head was spinning.

The bell rang and the first class ended. I sighed as I sat up in my seat and followed the twins out the door and down the hallway.

"How's the arm doing?" Ryo concerning asked as he leaned in on it poking my brace a little. I groaned in a little pain and grabbed his hand.

"It only hurts when you touch it... you know... like you did just now." I growled, throwing his hand away with my good arm.

"You're going to duel practice, right?" Riley asked me, stopping in the middle of the hall and turning towards me.

"I think I need to skip it and go to study hall. I still haven't finished that report and my deadline is today." I depressingly sighed. Adjusting the position of my backpack.

"Oh come on man! Didn't you hear what's going to be happening?" Ryo excitingly exclaimed, grabbing my brace of all places and sending another shot of pain to me. I immediately grabbed his hand and threw it back, gently taking my brace and adjusting it a little.

"What's that?" I asked, finally getting my brace to a comfortable position.

"Oh that's right, you were absent when the announcement was given. As of this week, turbo dueling classes are open to all students 15 years old and upward. I guess the school is encouraging the students who can take a duel runner license test to learn more about the sport." Riley explained. I went wide eyed at this, not expecting duel academy to go so far as teaching turbo dueling. I always thought that was something you had to learn from some other source like driving a car or riding a bike.

"We already signed you up to take the branch course. Aren't you coming?" Ryo added, giving a thumbs up of approval and enthusiasm. My jaw dropped.

"You signed me up without even asking me? Are you nuts?" I growled. "Do I look like a guy who's interested in turbo dueling?"

"Haru, do you even know what turbo dueling _is_?" Riley curiously asked, leaning a little towards me.

"Of course I do. There's not a self-respecting duelist on the planet who doesn't know about them." I sighed. "I'm just saying it's not something that I would want to do."

For those who aren't aware, a turbo duel is a special type of duel that a lot of professional duelists get into. Let me ask you this, when you were little, did you ever use to race other kids on your bike? Turbo dueling is like that on steroids mixed with duel monsters. Basically, a turbo duel takes place on a duel track in which both duelists ride at high speeds on these specially designed vehicles known as duel runners. These duel runners, which strangely resemble motorcycles, send the duelist going at high velocity and you eventually end up racing the other duelist while trying to win by taking out their life points using the basic rules of duel monsters. Slightly modified, of course.

"Turbo dueling is exciting! It gets your adrenaline pumping in a way that no regular duel can accomplish!" Ryo cheered as we continued our walk down the hallway to our next class.

"Turbo dueling is also tediously complicated and a poor concept. It's just an excuse to race on a motorcycle with duel monsters added." I added as we turned the corner. By this time I was suppose to walk up a staircase to study hall, but I ended up following the twins unaware of what I was doing.

"I don't know how you can knock it until you've tried it. I say you try turbo dueling before making any assumptions about it." Ryo scolded. He certainly had the nerve to chew me out for knocking on something that he hasn't tried himself either.

"You have to admit Haru, a lot of pro duelists at least have a duel runner license. Some of them don't use them, most of them do." Riley reminded as we entered the gymnasium. By this time I just realized where I had been going, but it was a little late to turn back. Why you ask? The bell rang.

Once in what used to be the gymnasium, I gasped. The entire place looked like it was turned upside down. Construction was still being done as I saw a few men work on the walls wearing construction helmets. A few more were laying down an extra coat of pavement. It appeared our gym had turned into a race track. A large hole was in the side of the gyms wall. After looking through the hole I realized it lead to even more track that was placed outside. I swear it looked like something you'd see NASCAR building. The track twisted and turned every which way to make full usage of it's space.

"When the hell did the school add a duel track?" I gasped, still staring at the new surroundings.

"While you were gone. A lot can happen in a week." Riley seemed to chuckle.

"_Apparently a lot can be BUILT in a week too."_

"Come on man, at least stay for the first class. I'm sure it won't be that bad." Ryo pleaded. I could see the more impulsive twin was hell-bent on keeping me in this room and having me attend this class. I shrugged, figuring since I was here, I might as well attend the introduction. After all, if I didn't like it I could excuse myself and head to study hall afterwards.

It wasn't long before we all had to line up against the wall due to our lack of desks. Our teacher arrived moments later in a way that you wouldn't expect.

"What the heck is that?" I heard a classmate say as we all turned to the huge hole in the gym wall still in construction. I could hear a motor in the distance, and before I knew where it was coming from I saw some sort of vehicle speeding across the track that was located indoors. I didn't see much danger though, since the track had siding on it that was like a foot high. Boy was I wrong.

I saw the vehicle suddenly jump the sidings of the track and head towards us. We were all against the wall and didn't have anywhere to run. Some went off to the side to avoid getting too damaged from the collision, but right as the vehicle came within a matters distance, it turned to the side allowing it to stop. I realized now that it was some type of motorcycle as it screeched noisily to a halt literally inches from our feet. The rider was in a black jumpsuit with several bright red flame designs on it to show off a little style. His motorcycle was a bright red with several black designs similar to circuitry. The man inside the motorcycle removed his full-faced helmet to reveal a buzz-cut, black haired man with a small strap of hair on the edge of his chin for a beard. He smiled to us looking real amused at our still frightened faces.

"Hello there gentlemen. I am Mr. Ratemen. Nice to meet you all." he said in an innocent manner.

"What the hell man! You tried to turn us into pancakes!" Ryo snapped back at our instructor. I slammed my good elbow into Ryo's stomach and shushed him. Being so disrespectful to a teacher was a bad idea...no matter how crazy he may be.

"Ah, I didn't try to. I think the important thing here is that I didn't. Therefore, there is no fault." Mr. Ratemen excused.

"_I can't even begin to point out the flaws in that logic."_

"Anyway, I'll be your turbo dueling instructor. In this class we will be spending the remainder of the trimester learning how to operate and drive a duel runner. Afterwards, we will be having a private tournament in this class to see who's been paying attention the most." Mr. Ratemen continued, parking his motorcycle which I assumed was some sort of duel runner. "You all will be using the most basic duel runners, in which I have made sure all were in working order."

I saw Mr. Ratemen run over to what used to be the gym's equipment shed. He opened up the now huge door that was now a garage door and revealed it's contents.

"_Dear god."_

Inside the shed were four perfectly pristine duel runners. Each runner seemed to be designed less as a motorcycle, and more as a chair on wheels. These duel runners had a single seat with two arms in which one arm had several monster card slots along it. The duel runner was designed in a way that allowed you to operate it comfortably like you were sitting in a chair, putting the throttle trigger underneath one of the arms of the chair-like structure and putting a small clip in which you could put your cards in on the same arm. Underneath it's chair-like structure were four separate wheels in a diamond-like formation underneath it. The single wheel in front being extended far longer than the others for better control and turning. A screen was mounting on what seemed like a half-door wide open so the duelist could sit in the duel runner. This design made it look like a high-chair that babies normally use at a dinner table. Why I just gave myself that image I'll never know.

Anyway, each duel runner had a separate, bright, and simple paint job. The first three donning the primary colors of red, blue, and yellow. The third one being a dark and coal black.

"Those... are... awesome." Ryo quietly admired. He said this soft enough so I could hear him and yet nobody else couldn't. At least that's what I guessed.

"Now guys, here's how it's going to work. We're going to learn how to function these duel runners, and then take them for a test drive under the guidance of me. Under no circumstances should these duel runners be activated without my supervision. Clear?" Mr. Ratemen sternly said. It seemed everyone in the class understood, and Mr. Ratemen was pleased. "Wonderful. Now I'll be right back, I need to get the schematics to these things in my office so I can show you. Then we'll be getting a feel for 'em." our instructor said as he ran for the door and momentarily left the room. Everyone in the gym seemed to be staring at the duel runners, admiring them and realizing they'd be driving them soon. I heard so much commotion around the class.

"What kind of engines do you think they have?"

"I bet my deck will fit nicely into those babies."

"When I get my license, screw a car, I'm driving a duel runner."

"Really? I'll duel you the second you get it once I get my license."

I couldn't believe these guys. It wasn't until then did I realize that there really were only guys in this class. I desperately searched around the room to find but one female student who was taking the introduction to turbo dueling, but no luck.

"_Figures. Turbo dueling is a guy-dominated sport after all. It's just like these guys to jump at the opportunity to associated duel monsters with greasy car stuff."_

That was definitely one thing that I didn't like about turbo dueling. It was more about the runner and not about the cards. To combine duel monsters with it would be an injustice. Once I had this thought, I saw one of the students jump out of line and run towards the parked runners.

"_Uh oh, trouble."_

"Hey, what's that guy doing?" I heard Riley question as he spotted the rogue student. This guy apparently really liked the runners, because once he got up to them he started looking all around them. Testing the wheel's air pressure, moving around the parts a little to see how flexible they were. I gasped at this, and started running to stop this guy. He was going to get the class in trouble. Why you ask? When one guy gets to see the duel runners up close... they _all_ want to get to see them up close.

I sprinted up to this guy holding my brace so it wouldn't bump around and hurt as I ran. Walking up to this guy as he examined the underneath of the runner's shelf that held the screen.

"Hey man, we're not suppose to touch the runners, you're going to encourage the others to..." I started, but before I could finish I was interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Shut it, loser." Takuya's voice said. The student removed his head from underneath the runner to the reveal his face. It was indeed Takuya, spoiled, pompous, combed-back haircut and all. "I'm just looking, don't get your cards in a shredder."

"Takuya? _You're_ taking this class?" I gasped, taking a step back.

"Sure I am. I have every right to, and I might as well since my family bought the school these duel runners."

"_You must be joking."_

"Are you serious?" I double questioned, still in a bit of a daze to find out this guy was in the same class as I was. It was bad enough he was in my duel practice class and strategy studies, but _turbo dueling_ class too?

"Yeah, which means I have every right to examine them since I'm part-owner. I just wanted to be sure they were in working order." Takuya smugly smiled as he tapped the arm of the duel runner.

"_Ten bucks says that in reality Takuya knows nothing about duel runners."_

"Ten bucks says that you really don't know anything about duel runners, rich boy." I heard Ryo echo my thoughts from behind my back, approaching the scene with his twin brother.

"_Wow... that was scary."_

"Want me to prove it? I'll bet I could beat any of you in a turbo duel _without_ using the auto pilot." Takuya bragged, taking his deck from out of his pocket and gesturing towards the yellow duel runner with his other arm. "How bout you, loser?" he asked, taking the hand he was gesturing towards the duel runner with and pointing to me.

"Huh?" I grunted, slightly surprised that he'd pick me.

"Yeah! You owe me a rematch from our last duel, and I bet I could beat you in a turbo duel easily." Takuya taunted, putting his pointing arm down and taking his deck to shuffle it. I growled at this. Arrogant people really irk me. The fact that it was Takuya made it even worse. I suddenly felt a hand on my good shoulder and one of the twins pulled me back. It was Riley, a serious expression on his face.

"Haru, you can't. You're injury." he reminded, flicking my brace once just to send a small amount of pain to me to discourage my action.

"_Riley's right. I really don't think I'm ready to duel after what happened. I'm still a little duel-o-phobic from that... if that's even a real word."_

I started to have a flashback to when the duel happened. Devril the Dark Flame evilly grinning at me and taking out it's advanced-looking rifle. Only to shoot a raging fireball at me to have my dodge and still mess up my arm. As I relived that pain, I gently grabbed my brace and groaned.

"I'm not falling for it Takuya. Mr. Ratemen said we'd be in big trouble if we used those runners without his permission." I reminded, starting to turn away from this snotty rich kid trying to get me into trouble.

"So what? They're my duel runners too. I can do what I please with them. Don't tell me you're scared because you've never turbo dueled." Takuya mocked, giving a subtle chuckle at my cowardly actions.

"Lay off of him rich boy! Haru's still recovering from a burn he got a week ago!" Ryo frustratingly defended. Stepping in front of me so Takuya would pick on him rather than me.

"A burn? What's the matter? Did his life point counter go down so fast his duel disk caught on fire?" Takuya joked, suddenly bursting out laughing. A few classmates watching this happen could be heard chuckling from on the sidelines.

"_That's it!"_

"You want a duel rich boy? I'll beat you so fast you're_ speedometer_ won't be able to measure it!" I snapped back aggressively as I took out my deck with my good hand and held it up. Takuya seemed pleased with my reaction. I wasn't proud of what I was doing, but Takuya needed another lesson in humility.

"Nice. Suit up then." Takuya instructed as he reached for the blue duel runner and opened a hidden compartment in the back of it. In this compartment was a box that when opened revealed a blue helmet with a black visor that when worn, would cover the top of the head, eyes, and ears. He threw this helmet towards me, and Riley stepped forward and caught it for me. I'm guessing he knew I couldn't catch with my right arm. Riley turned to me placing the helmet underneath his arm.

"Haru, I won't let you do this. You can't duel in the condition you're in." Riley solemnly said as he glared at me with disapproval.

"Relax Riles, the duel runner is formatted in a way that will let my injured arm rest in it easily. All I have to do is flex my fingers to use the throttle. It'll be fine." I assured.

"You know that's not what I mean." he sighed. I arched my eyebrow at this, not even sure I knew what Riley meant by that last statement. Even though I didn't, he was about to tell me. "You got that injury when you dueled that one guy. Are you sure you're psychologically up for another duel just a week after the accident?"

I smiled at this, touched that Riley would be that worried about me even though I was recovering swiftly and smoothly.

"Does this mean you're finally admitting that I got the injuries _because_ of the duel?" I jokingly grinned. Riley seemed to blush.

"Don't change the subject! Are you or are you not ready for this, because if you aren't, I'll gladly take your place on the track." Riley hastily said.

"_Wow..."_

"You'd do that... for me?" I gasped. Riley looked away for a few moments and scratched the back of his head.

"I realize you want to teach Takuya a lesson, but I don't want to see you get hurt because of your self-righteous sense of justice." Riley admitted. I couldn't help but smile at this, and grabbed the helmet he was holding.

"Relax Riles, I'll be fine. Just keep watching as I throw Takuya's duel runner around the track." I winked as I walked over to the blue duel runner. Takuya was already all set to go in the yellow duel runner and was starting up the engine.

I placed my helmet on my head with a little difficulty due to having only one hand to do it with, and rested my left arm into the arm of the duel runner than mounted the duel disk. I saw Takuya start his runner up, so I knew practically what to do. I located an ignition peddle beside my right leg, and stomped on it only to hear the revving sound of the engine. Once it stopped, I slammed my foot down on the peddle a few more times until the engine was continuously purring like a kitten. The screen in front of me came on, and a display of the duel runner's status appeared. A speedometer slid itself on screen to the side, and signaled 0 mph. I slotted my deck into the left arm of the duel runner and rested my right arm onto the handle of the right arm of the duel runner.

"You ready for this?" Takuya asked, seeming to make sure if I was going through with this.

"As I'll ever be." I replied in a slightly shaking voice. Needless to say I wasn't completely sure what I was doing was ok.

"Alright then, if that's so, I'll set the field spell... Speed World 2!" Takuya shouted as he pressed a button on the left arm of his duel runner. The button was located underneath the duel disk mounted on the duel runner. I looked where Takuya's hand reached to see two triggers underneath the duel disk. One was a grey trigger which was obviously the throttle, and the other was a bright red button that could easily be touched with the thumb without releasing the throttle.

"Right then! Speed World 2, activate!" I shouted in response as I slammed the button.

"Duel mode engaged. Auto-pilot standing by." I heard a female computerized voice say in a rather emotionless tone as the screen in front of me change. It changed to display what seemed like a duel board that showed the 20 card zones of two duelists along with their life point counters and... something called a speed counter?"

"Right then, here it comes!" Takuya confidently said as his engine started to rev quite loudly.

"Duel runner connection established. Auto-pilot activated." I heard the same voice from the duel runner say as I saw both Takuya's and my own life point counters suddenly go from zero to 4000 in a few moments.

"_No turning back now."_

"Duelists... on your mark..." the computerized female voice started. "Get set... duel."

The second that voice said the word "duel" both Takuya's and my own duel runners were off like rockets. I got whiplash as my head was forced back to crash into the back of the seat. I rubbed my head in pain with my right arm as I looked at the road passing by in front of me. The duel runner drove itself onto the track and turned a corner like it had a mind of it's own. My guess was it was the auto-pilot at work. That was about time I was thinking...

"_Too fast too fast too fast too fast TOO FAST!"_

I went wide eyed at the velocity I was going at. I peeked at the speedometer at the side of my duel runner's screen to see that Takuya and myself were literally going at 85 mph... and rising. I regained my composure and watched the track go by as I realized the duel had started and I had to draw my cards. I drew from my deck only to realize the intensity of the wind. This of course almost made me lose five of my cards as I struggled to hold them and placed them into the clip in which held your cards for you so they wouldn't blow away.

"Lets duel!" Takuya and I said in unison as we finished drawing.

**Haru: **4000 LP : 0 SC

**Takuya:** 4000 LP : 0 SC

"I'll go first!" Takuya insisted as he drew from his deck. By this time Takuya's and my own duel runner were speeding down the track side by side, and I watched him in the driver's seat making his move. "I'll start by setting two cards face down and ending my turn."

"_Huh? No monsters? No nothing? Just two face downs?"_

"Fine then, my move!"

**Haru: **1 SC

**Takuya: **1 SC

"I'll start by summoning, Kuribon! (300ATK/200DEF)" I called as my small monster appeared via blue portal opening up vertically next to me. I shut my eyes slightly as the portal appeared beside me and revealed my monster seeming to fly beside my duel runner as it sped across the track. I examined my hand to see what I could do with Kuribon next, and I realized something crucial.

"_Crap! I forgot!"_

I realized that this was a turbo duel I was doing, and in a turbo duel you aren't allowed to use regular spell cards. I examined my hand and saw that I had three regular spell cards ready to go... and yet all of them were useless in these circumstances.

I barred my teeth at this, ashamed that I didn't remember earlier. As the wind blew into my face, I realized that my deck had absolutely no speed spells within it's contents. This meant that now one full third of my deck was now rendered useless thanks to my hurry to start this duel. I couldn't help but think that this duel was going to be way harder. Mostly because I literally wasn't playing with a full deck.

"I set one card face down and end my turn." I growled, annoyed by this. Our duel runners turned a sharp corner which forced me to lean to the left and bump my brace. I groaned as the pain starting rushing back and I grabbed my arm.

_"I really wish Riles would have taken my place."_

HeroSpirit: "Haru's first turbo duel and no speed spells? What will he do?"

Ryo: "Aren't you suppose to decide that?"

HeroSpirit: "Uh... OH! Right! You're right, I am. Don't worry, I'll figure this out."

Haru: "Please tell me you had this planned out."

HeroSpirit: "I had this planned out."

Haru: "Really?"

HeroSpirit: "No, but you told me to say it."


	11. Chapter 11: And Burn

Yu-Gi-Oh: Rise of Arcadia

Chapter 11: ….And Burn

HeroSpirit: "Haru's turbo duel will now continue!"

**Haru:** 4000 LP : 1 SC

**Takuya:** 4000 LP : 1 SC

"It's my move then!" Takuya smugly said as he drew from his deck.

**Haru:** 2 SC

**Takuya: **2 SC

"From my hand I activate the Speed Spell- Graceful Portal!" Takuya called as his spell card appeared onto the field with a rotation effect. "This speed spell can only be activated when I have two or more speed counters. With it I can special summon a monster from my deck as long as I give up one card in my hand for each level that monster has!"

"_I hope this isn't going where I think it is."_

"Come on out, level one Gemstone Polisher! (100ATK/100DEF)" Takuya shouted as his tuner monster took to the field via portal beside his duel runner. Takuya discarded one card from his hand duel to Graceful Portal's effect, and continued on. The new small gemstone monster seemed to extend it's arms out like it were flying on air currents as it kept up with Takuya's duel runner. "Next I activate Gemstone Polisher's special ability!"

"Huh?" I gasped.

"When Gemstone Polisher is successfully special summoned, I can special summon a Gemstone monster from my hand! Come on out, Gemstone Beast! (2200ATK/0DEF)"

"_This is really not good."_

"So since I haven't used my normal summon yet, I summon Gemstone Salvo! (0ATK/0DEF)" Takuya added as both his Gemstone Beast and Gemstone Salvo took to the field. His Gemstone Beast emerged with it's shining and expensive body as it crashed into the pavement and began to sprint alongside Takuya's duel runner on four legs. Takuya's Gemstone Salvo, on the other hand, was just a small spherical emerald-comprised monster with several sharp and pointed crystals of multiple colors sticking out of it rather jaggedly. I wondered what type of a monster that could be to have zero attack and defense points.

"Now I synchronize level four Gemstone Beast and level one Gemstone Salvo with level one Gemstone Polisher!" Takuya decided as his Gemstone Polisher shattered, leaving behind a single shining orb that began to swirl itself around Gemstone Beast and Gemstone Salvo now huddled together. The orb revolved around these monsters until it created a circular ring, and as the ring cause the two monsters to glow, a blinding light occurred, making me a little nervous because I couldn't see where the duel runner was going. Once the light ceased, I saw a brand new monster on Takuya's field

"Synchro summon! Gemstone Paladin! (2300ATK/2300DEF)" Takuya seemed to brag as a new humanoid monster comprised of crystal raced on the field. This new monster was made of a clear crystal that carried two separate crystal swords with sharp and blinding blades. "Next I activate Gemstone Salvo's effect!"

"Gemstone...Salvo? But that card was sent to your grave when you synchronized it." I reminded as our duel runners turned another sharp corner.

"Exactly, which means it's effect activates. You see, when Gemstone Salvo is removed from my field I can remove it from play so I can destroy a monster on your field!" Takuya explained as his Gemstone Salvo suddenly appeared back onto the field and charged itself at my only monster, Kuribon. "So I'll destroy that sissy little puff ball of yours!"

Gemstone Salvo attached itself like a piece of pollen onto Kuribon and detonated itself. This caused an explosion that caused my duel runner to go slightly sideways and near the sides of the track. I went wide eyed as the only monster that defended me disappeared.

"Kuribon!" I shouted in desperation as I looked back in front of me to realize Gemstone Paladin was raising his swords.

"Now that that fur ball is out of the way, Gemstone Paladin attacks directly!" Takuya commanded as his crystalized warrior turned around and charged itself directly at me.

"_Think Haru. Four plus one plus one is six. A level six synchro monster so... that's it!"_

"Reveal face down card! Level Buster!" I shouted as my trap card's hologram appeared and began to rotate itself so that all could see. "My Level Buster trap card allows me to target a monster on your field and multiply it's level by 400. If the number I come up with is more than your monster's attack points, it's destroyed!"

"What?" Takuya gasped in surprise.

"Six multiplied by 400 is 2400, which means Gemstone Paladin is destroyed due to it's attack points of 2300!" I shouted as Level Buster shot it's signature yellow laser and shattered Gemstone Paladin. "And because of Level Buster's second effect, you take damage equal to the difference of the number I came up with and your monster's attack points."

"Big whoop, 100 points of damage." Takuya disregarded. I found it odd he wasn't peeved about his monster's destruction.

**Haru:** 4000 LP : 2 SC

**Takuya:** 3900 LP : 2 SC

"I end my turn." Takuya admitted as I drew from my deck.

"My move then!"

**Haru:** 3 SC

**Takuya: **3 SC

"_Crap! ANOTHER spell card?"_

This marked four spell cards currently in my hand of five cards. This meant I only had one card in my hand that was able to be used at all.

"Due to my Gemstone Paladin's effect, I summon him to the field!" Takuya suddenly said as a bright blue portal appeared beside his duel runner and out came the monster I just destroyed.

"WHAT?" I gasped, slightly in horror of this monster that I worked so hard to get rid of.

"That's right, my Gemstone Paladin's effect can only be activated while he's in the graveyard. With it, I can send one of the original synchro material monsters used to synchro summon him and remove it from the game. Afterwards, he comes back with 300 extra attack and defense points." Takuya chuckled as his paladin took it's ready stance. (2600ATK/2600DEF)

"_Crap! I don't have any monsters, so he can attack directly next turn!"_

I looked at my hand, the only useable card in it was a trap that might be able to buy me some time. If it worked, I might be able to turn the duel around.

"I set one card face down and end my turn." I sighed as Takuya drew from his deck.

**Haru:** 4 SC

**Takuya: **4 SC

"_Gemstone Paladin was made with three synchro material monsters, and two of those monsters are already removed since one was Gemstone Salvo. At least that's encouraging."_

"I activate the Speed Spell- Synchro Speeder!" Takuya called as another speed spell appeared on his field with a portrait of a while light speeding past what looked like a duel runner. "With this card, I gain one speed counter for every two levels my synchro monster has. Afterwards, my Paladin gains attack points equal to the amount of speed counters I just gained multiplied by 400!"

"_Gemstone Paladin's level is six. Six divided by two gives Takuya three speed counters. Three times 400 is 1200 and 1200 plus 2600 is... oh no."_

"Go, Gemstone Paladin! (3800ATK/2600DEF) Attack this loser's life points directly!" Takuya commanded as his Paladin raised it's spear, turning completely around towards my duel runner.

"_I didn't want to use this so soon but..."_

"Reveal face down card, Kuriwall!" I revealed as my trap card flipped upwards revealing a picture of several Kuriboh monsters chained together in a square block. "With Kuriwall, I can remove a Kuriboh monster from my graveyard or hand from the game to cut any battle damage I take this turn in half. Afterwards, I can take the Kuriboh monster I removed from the game and special summon it to the field!"

"Hm?" Takuya grunted as my trap activated.

"I remove from play my Kuribon in the graveyard to activate Kuriwall!"

The graveyard slot of my duel disk began to glow, and out of it came my Kuribon as it zoomed onto the moving field and began to multiply itself. Hundreds of Kuribon swarmed the field covering my duel runner. This made me a little nervous as it was hard to see where I was going now. Regardless though, this wall of multiple Kuribon rendered Gemstone Paladin's spear unable to get to my life points, and in the end it returned to Takuya's duel runner.

"Now that that is finished, I special summon Kuribon to my field." I smiled as Kuribon's duplicates began to slowly disintegrate and the original Kuribon came to my side, flying across the track as I took a sharp turn.

**Haru: **2100 LP : 4 SC

**Takuya: **3900 LP : 7 SC

"_It may have cost me a big chunk of my life points, but at least the chunk isn't as big as what I originally was about to take."_

"I end my turn." Takuya sighed, leaving it to me.

"I draw then!" I called, drawing from my deck.

**Haru: **5 SC

**Takuya: **8 SC

_"Damn, I don't have anything that could particularly destroy that monster, but if I don't come up with something fast I'll be done for soon. At least this card that I drew will buy me some time."_

"I switch Kuribon to defense mode and end my turn." I shamefully said as Kuribon curled itself into a ball. Takuya laughed at this.

"Running out of cards are ya? Face facts loser, in a turbo duel you don't have a clue on what you're doing." Takuya mocked. I had to admit it, he was right. I was stumped on what to do. All four spell cards in my hand were useless, my traps could only delay his attacks, and my monsters didn't have the power to defend themselves let alone my life points. All I could do was last as long as I could.

**Haru: **6 SC

**Takuya: **9SC

"I activate one of my face down cards, Hyper Turbulence!" Takuya started as a trap card revealed itself with a picture of an airplane caught in the middle of a massive storm. "With Hyper Turbulence, I can draw cards from my deck, but for every card I draw, my opponent gains one speed counter." Takuya explained as he reached for his deck. "So I'll draw three cards from my deck and give you three speed counters!"

**Haru:** 9 SC

**Takuya:** 9 SC

Once I had gained those speed counters duel to that trap's effect, my duel runner went rocketing forward on the track in front of Takuya's duel runner. It stopped accelerating once it was at a minimal distance away from Takuya and stayed at a constant speed.

"_Takuya must not have any good cards to play, he's relying on those desperate cards to draw a game changer. Then again, Takuya isn't taking much of a risk since I can't use my speed counters for anything due to my lack of speed spells. In other words..."_

"He gave himself a freebie just to mock me." I finished aloud, growling at my opponent for such a dirty trick. Takuya knew all along I'd be dueling without speed spells, what other reason would he to have a card like that in his deck? He knew I'd be dueling with a crippled deck, so he took advantage of this opportunity just to make me look bad.

"Now my Gemstone Paladin attacks your Kuribon!" I heard Takuya shout from behind me as I turned around to see Gemstone Paladin come on for an attack. Gemstone Paladin stabbed my Kuribon straight in the back like it was a shish-kabob. I saw Kuribon shatter and get sent back to my graveyard, and I could help but growl.

"Fine then, you destroyed Kuribon, so it's my turn then?" I asked, putting my hand on my deck.

"Actually, I'm activating my second face down card, Madness Rush!" Takuya smiled as his second face down card appeared, showing a picture of some sort of ogre-like monster holding it's head with a bright red aura. "My Madness Rush trap card allows my monster to attack again as long as I decrease it's attack points by 500 each time it attacks. The only condition is that I can't deal direct damage to you more than once this turn."

"What?" I gasped, looking back at Takuya's monster now with an ominous red glow.

"Go Gemstone Paladin (2100ATK/2300DEF), attack this loser directly!"

"_Crap! Now I have no choice. If I don't use it now I lose."_

"From my hand I activate the effect of Kuriboh!" I smiled as I discarded my furry little monster. "When Kuriboh is in my hand I can discard him to make the battle damage I take from your monster zero. The only condition is that it has to be your battle phase."

"Fine then. I end my turn." Takuya frustratedly said.

"_I got Takuya to reduce his monster's attack points, so now if I summon a monster, even in attack mode, I won't lose the duel if it's destroyed. All I need to do is summon a monster and I'll be good for the rest of the turn. That is of course, unless Takuya summons another monster."_

I reached for my deck and slid a card about half way out of the deck, my hand started to shake, and I can to realize something.

"_Crap! What's the use. I'll only be delaying my defeat if I summon another monster. Without my spell cards my deck is completely crippled. My traps alone can't stop Takuya from attacking, and my monsters can stall his damage, but that's it. My SPELL cards are the ones that power up my monsters enough for me to take down his life points. Without them my deck is useless. Why, the only spell card in my entire deck that's functional at all at this moment is Speed World 2!"_

This thought of self pity and realization vexed me. However, when I recalled the last part of my thought... I gasped.

"_Wait a second... Speed World 2."_

I looked down at the duel display which was on the screen of my duel disk. I found that both Takuya and I had field spells called Speed World 2. I know what you're thinking. "No duh" right? Well, this may sound simple, but this is exactly what I needed.

"That's it! I may not have any regular spell cards, but I still have the Speed World 2 field spell and all the effects that come with it!" I quietly mumbled to myself.

"_And I know exactly how to use those effects."_

I drew from my deck confidently. I wasn't much of a turbo duelist, but I knew about Speed World 2 and all of it's advantages and disadvantages. This came from long hours of watching turbo duels on television. Boy oh boy, who would have guessed that television would someday pay off.

**Haru:** 10 SC

**Takuya: **10 SC

"I have to say Takuya, I should thank you for giving me that speed counter head start, because now that I have ten speed counters... I can activate the effect of Speed World 2!" I smiled.

"Huh?" Takuya grunted, slightly confused by this.

"As you know, Speed World 2 has various effects depending on how many speed counters you have. With it, I can give up ten of my speed counters to instantly destroy one card on the field!" I explained as I felt my duel runner begin to slow down. It wasn't long before I saw Takuya passing my duel runner and I found myself directly behind him. Now with zero speed counters, I continued.

"You idiot, if you destroy Gemstone Paladin he just comes back!" Takuya reminded, thinking that his monster was the target of this effect.

"Who said I was targeting your Paladin?"

Takuya went wide eyed at this statement, and looked back. There were no other cards on the field besides Gemstone Paladin... or so Takuya thought.

"What... what do you mean? He's the only card on the field!" Takuya surprisingly and confusedly stated.

"Or so you think." I reminded him. "Take a good look at the field Takuya, this duel is the product of a certain spell card responsible for all this. This spell card is the one thing that makes a turbo duel possible!"

"You don't mean..."

"That's right! The card I'm targeting with Speed World 2's effect... is Speed World 2 _itself!_"

I felt the duel runner start to shake, and I looked at the screen of my duel runner. It was starting to fuzz up like there was a computation error. I could tell that the move I was making was definitely not a common one.

"But... but you can't! That's not possible!" Takuya frustratedly said. "Speed World 2 is what makes a turbo duel a turbo duel!"

"That's exactly my point. The one thing that a lot of duelists fail to realize is that all cards are just cards. Field spells are field spells which makes them completely game to be targets of card effects. I'm not a big fan of turbo duels, so I'm taking out the one thing that makes this game a turbo duel!"

"Speed World 2 not detected, auto-pilot dis-engaged." I heard my duel runner say. I looked down and gasped, suddenly feeling a slight pull on the controls.

"_Wait... what?"_

"That isn't what I mean you idiot! Speed World 2 is what keeps the duel runner's auto-pilot on! If you take it off the field you'll be forced to drive manually!" I heard Takuya yell from in front of me. I started to feel myself slightly lean to the left of the track, and I took the controls and turned the joy-stick to the right. Once the duel runner responded, I realized that I was driving.

"That's alright, because this will only take a second. With the five spell cards I've stockpiled in my hand, I'm going to win this duel! In just one turn!" I smiled, placing a card into a spell card slot. "With Speed World 2 gone, I activate the _regular_ spell card, Flute of Summoning Kuriboh!" I called as my spell card appeared on my field as I struggled to stay in a straight line with the manual controls. Every time I paused to play a card it was like trying to ride a bike with one hand. "Flute of Summoning Kuriboh lets me summon a Kuriboh monster from my hand, deck, or graveyard. So from my grave I summon... Kuriboh!"

My furry little monster appeared back on my field via blue portal, and it flew beside my duel runner like it was some sort of superhero. "Next I activate the spell card, Multiply! Multiply lets me tribute my Kuriboh for five Kuriboh Tokens with the same attack and defense points as Kuriboh itself!" I explained as my singular Kuriboh monster re-summoned from my grave began to glow, splitting itself into five glowing lights which then became five golden Kuriboh tokens. I looked at my five new monsters with bright eyes, I knew this was only step two to my plan.

"Afterwards, I activate the spell card, March of the Meek!" I shouted as I slotted in my spell card. "March of the Meek lets me select a monster on the field, and for the remainder of the turn all my level one monsters gain the same attack points as that monster!" I explained.

"_This is the same combo I used on Ryo in our first duel, it'll definitely work."_

"Now I have my Kuriboh token attack Gemstone Paladin!" I shouted as one of my golden Kuriboh launched itself directly at Takuya's monster.

"I activate the quick-play speed spell, Crash Out!" Takuya countered as a spell hologram appeared on his field with a picture of several cards crashing into each other.

"Huh?"

"I can only activate Crash Out if I have six or more speed counters, and with it, I can select the monster you're attacking me with, and if you have any other monsters on your field with equal or less attack points, they're destroyed."

"WHAT?"

I suddenly found my other Kuriboh tokens beginning to explode before my eyes, this threw my duel runner slightly off course and just barely into the siding of the track. I remembered that I was using the manuel controls on this duel, so I had to act fast.

"_Come on Haru, get it together and DON'T CRASH!"_

That thought alone was enough for me to pull myself together and manage to get back to the middle of the track behind Takuya, and as I realized what I was doing before, I growled.

"So what, my Kuriboh token will still destroy your Gemstone Paladin!" I reminded as I pointed to my Kuriboh suddenly continuing his charge after stopping for the activation of that spell card.

"Actually, no, because the speed spell known as Crash Out reduces the selected monster's attack points to zero after it's effect resolves." Takuya smugly and devilishly said.

"_WHAT?"_

Once my Kuriboh finished it's onslaught of not being able to damage Gemstone Paladin, I saw Takuya's monster grab my Kuriboh monster with one of it's hands and throw it into the air, only to throw it's crystal spear at it in mid-air forcing it to shatter.

**Haru:** 0 LP : 0 SC

**Takuya: **3900 LP : 10 SC

I felt my duel runner immediately start to slow down, and come to a stop moments after my life point counter reached zero. I couldn't believe what had just happened. My deck failed me again and this time in a turbo duel. I saw Takuya's duel runner stop a few yards from mine and begin to turn around towards me. Once Takuya was side by side next to my duel runner, he gave a laugh.

"Let me tell you something, loser. You got way too confident because of your victory over me. For the record, you're not a better duelist than me, and you never will be." Takuya started, taking off his helmet and staring at me.

"Better duelist? I beat you hard in the duel performance exam when-.." I started, but it wasn't long before Takuya interrupted.

"The duel performance exam that I threw? Yeah, _real_ victory for you there. For the record, you were right when you said I threw that match. However, I wanted to be a nice guy and let you win as a reward for making it that far into the duel with such a pathetic deck. After that though, I swore I wouldn't be so lenient with you or anyone. Do yourself a favor, loser. Trade that worthless deck of yours in for one that can win in an actual duel against an actual opponent." Takuya scolded as he started to drive off, leaving me in the middle of the track to think about what he just said.

"_You got to be kidding me."_

I must have sat on that track for at least half an hour. At least that's what it felt like. I sat there in shock of what Takuya just said. Somehow I knew that if Takuya hadn't thrown our duel performance exam I would have lost the next turn, and he would have won... again.

"So this means...out of all the duels I've had with this deck..." I started, taking my deck out of the duel disk system and staring at it.

"_Out of all the duels I've had with this thing I've only won once."_

That one victory was with Ryo, and even Ryo isn't much of a duelist. Then again, he did have a tie with Mina Halls, one of the greatest duelists out there, but still. I've only had four duels with this deck and only one was a true victory. How was I suppose to feel about this? This deck that I thought so high of because it beat opponents with such seemingly weak and worthless monsters. I felt so worthless. Both worthless and foolish not just because I was stupid enough to think this deck was awesome but worthless enough to use it in the first place. Where did I go at that point? You'll find out.

HeroSpirit: "Indeed you shall."

Haru: "Wow, that was really heavy right there. Am I going to start using another deck?"

HeroSpirit: "Perhaps, perhaps not."

Riley: "Hero informed me on what's going to happen later, and I'm excited."

Ryo: "Oh so he keeps YOU in the loop but not us?"

HeroSpirit and Riley (in unison): "Yep."

Ryo: "WHY?"

HeroSpirit: "Because Riley can keep a secret."

Ryo: "Touche..."


	12. Chapter 12: One Card Short

Yu-Gi-Oh: Rise of Arcadia

Chapter 12: One Card Short

HeroSpirit: "So Haru is a little down on his deck right now, what will he do next?"

Ryo: "Ask me to give him some duel lessons so that one day he can be as awesome as me?"

HeroSpirit: "HAHAHAHAHAHA-... oh... oh you were serious?"

"So after that I was all like, 'not so fast cause I activate my Reflect Bind trap!"

"Really? Even though you knew he had those face down cards?"

"You gotta take some risks to win duels, and that's what I did!"

Ryo and Riley were having a conversation about something that I was too bothered to follow with as we exited the classroom. Another day of school had past and I couldn't keep my mind focused on anything. I was too fixated on what Takuya had told me after I lost in that turbo duel.

_"__Do yourself a favor, loser. Trade that worthless deck of yours in for one that can win in an actual duel against an actual opponent."_

Was he right? It was true that this deck has lost more than it's won... well truly won, and I guess it wasn't that big of a deal even. After all, in one of those defeats I tied with a powerful duelist, so that must mean something right? I was debating whether this deck was worth keeping due to it's current track record.

"_Lets see. It won once with Ryo. I guess that counts as a half-point. It also won against Takuya... who threw the duel... so that's another half-point. This deck has one point minus another point when it lost to Mina. Then I guess that's another point lost with it's lose against Takuya in the turbo duel. Then again that wasn't a fair lose since Takuya had speed spells and I didn't. So a half of a point lost? Or zero points lost because of the bias... OH this is confusing!"_

"Don't you think so?" I suddenly heard Riley ask. I snapped out of my thought and saw that Riley was looking directly at me. Ryo was looking apparently waiting for an answer to. I scratched the back of my head and nervously smiled.

"I'm sorry... I uh... wasn't paying attention." I admitted.

"You ok Haru? You looked even more distant than Ryo during a written exam." Riley concerning asked.

"Hey!" Ryo objected suddenly realizing what Riley just said.

"I'm fine, really. I'll just meet you guys back home ok? There's something I need to take care of." I assured as we all got to the school's entrance and Ryo pushed open the door. I adjusted my brace, which I was still wearing, as I walked out as it was staring to bump on my wound.

"Wait, don't tell me you're still serving detention for that turbo duel that you got into with Takuya." Ryo glared, seeming a little doubtful.

"No, I only got three days for that, and my last session was yesterday. Still though, I need to take care of something." I cleared, walking out the door behind Riley as Ryo held the door for us.

"Really? What is it?" Riley questioned as we started to walk through the schoolyard.

"It's uh... an extra project I have to do in addition to my detention. Don't worry about it, I'll be back home in an hour or so."

"Ah, ok then. Well let us come with you, I'm sure we could be of some use."

"Nah, I need to do this myself. Thanks for the offer though."

After that conversation, I headed left after we got out of the schoolyard. I didn't want to tell them where I was actually going, but I wasn't going to do a school project. I needed some time to think, to think by myself, and that was something I couldn't do at the twin's house. I was going to the park.

The park was where a lot of people hung out. Not really to play, but to do something else. What was that something else? You guessed it, to duel. The park was full of kids who itched to duel, and if you wanted to test out a new deck or something, the park was the way to find an opponent. I'm sure you're wondering why I'm going to such a place if I wanted to be by myself. My answer is the park was only filled like this on weekends. Otherwise it's nearly empty and all the kids who "itch to duel" are always hanging out at the game shop to get new cards with their allowances. It was a good spot to be at the time.

Anyway, I was at the park sitting on one of the sets of swings, and I took my deck out of my pocket to look through it. When you looked through it from a different angle, it wasn't that impressive. I used to see a deck filled with seemingly weak monsters who could become strong with the right support. However, now I only saw monsters who could do nothing but stall my defeat until they could lean on the support of some sort of spell card.

What can I say, that Turbo duel with Takuya taught me something. It taught me without any spell cards my deck was useless.

"Pardon me, what are you doing here?" I heard someone say. I snapped out of my daze and looked up. In front of me I saw a man in a fancy, brown leather jacket, hands in the jacket's pockets. Underneath the jacket I saw a formal black suit with a white shirt and a purple tie underneath. This man had a curious thing about him as I looked father up to see this guy's neat white hair and square-framed glasses. The reason this was curious is that this guy's hair was white...and yet he didn't look a day over 25 years of age.

"Oh! Um, I'm sorry sir I hope this isn't considered loitering I just..." I started nervously as I looked back down, a little weirded out that this guy was randomly talking to a kid hanging out at the park. I heard this man laugh with a deep voice.

"I'm so sorry young man, I didn't mean that in an unpleasant way. I was simply curious as to what you would be doing at a park alone. You looked troubled." the man said so suddenly friendly. At first when this guy spoke he acted like what I was doing was wrong or perhaps I was in his way, but now he was acting all polite and whatnot.

"Oh, just... thinking." I responded, straightening the my deck into a neat pile.

"Thinking about what?" the man double questioned as he went ahead and sat beside me on a swing adjacent to the one I was sitting at.

"_Why is this guy so interested in me?"_

"Uh, nothing really. I mean it's something I'd rather keep to myself." I responded, curiously looking at this guy sitting next to me.

"Ah, I see." he smiled, looking in front of him an examining the park before looking back at me. "Excuse me, is that a duel monsters deck you're holding?"

"Uh... yeah, it is." I admitted, lifting it up and showing this man the covers of the cards.

"May I see? I'm fascinated by duel monsters."

"Uh... sure?"

The curious man gladly took my deck to flip through it, and WOW did he flip through it. Seriously, this guy was examining my deck like some guy on steroids. He was flipping over at least three cards per second. It seemed like he wasn't even looking at them or examining them just counting them. Maybe this guy had some sort of fetish for counting duel monsters cards? That's what I first thought.

"This deck is wonderful." the man cheerfully and gleefully said.

"_How can you even tell. You barely looked at each card."_

"Uh, not really. It has a few flaws in it." I modestly admitted.

"_More than a few actually."_

"Such as the fact that these monsters are dependent on your spell cards?" the man chuckled, adjusting his glasses and giving me back my deck. My jaw dropped.

"How... how did you even know that?" I surprisingly asked, baffled by the fact that this man knew this only by flipping through my deck.

"I examined your deck in great detail. By the way, I think it's very interesting that your deck relies on level one monsters. It requires a very strategic person to use a deck like that. After all, a deck with such weak monsters most certainly cannot use the direct approach to dueling." the man admired.

"Um... thanks but... these monsters aren't of much use without any support. I found that out the hard way when dueling with them. An... uh... friend of mine asked me to duel with them, and during the duel let's just say that I lost the ability to use spell cards. Once I found my deck was crippled, I lost." I explained, about to pocket my deck into my right pocket. Just before I shoved my deck in, however, the man grabbed my arm and stopped me just before my deck was submerged in my pocket. I went wide eyed at this.

"_What the.."_

"That isn't necessarily a bad thing. You just need the right cards to counter that sort of weakness. A backup strategy if you will." the man insisted as he let go of my arm and reached into his pocket. "In fact, I think I have a card that could do just that."

"A.. card?" I stuttered, still a little in shock that this guy grabbed my arm for no reason. The man reached into his pocket with a grin on his face and took out a duel monsters card, extending it out to me gesturing me to take it.

I cautiously took the card, and examined the cover. This card was a monster like non that I had seen before. This level one light-attributed warrior type monster card had a picture of a small boy who looked like something out of a chibi anime. This cartoonish monster was armored in shiny blue armor with a white cape and a metal helmet that didn't seem to cover his face. He carried a small sword that was just about the length of his tiny arms, and a shield that didn't even cover his whole arm as he wore it. I read the name of the card as...

"True Guard?" I questioned. "A tuner monster?"

"Yes, that's right." the man nodded, standing up like he was about to leave. "Your deck only has 39 cards in it, so that card should make your deck complete."

"_How did he even... never mind."_

"Wait a second sir, I can't take this card." I insisted as I stood up along with him. The man turned back, looking confused.

"Why not?" he questioned as he looked at the card I was trying to give back.

"Because I have no use for a tuner monster. I don't even have any synchro monsters." I replied, gesturing the card back to this man.

"Not now you don't, anyway." the man calmly replied as he turned around not even making an attempt to take the card back. He walked out of the park and started down the street.

"_What?"_

"By the way, Haru, I hope that burn heals up nicely." the man shouted as he continued down the street not even looking back. I gasped.

"_Wait... how did he even..."_

"Hey! How did you know I had a burn! Hey! Sir, wait up!" I shouted back as I started to run, holding my brace so it wouldn't bump around too much and placing my cards into my other hand. "Hey!"

I saw the man disappear from sight behind a house that was close to the park I was at. I started to sprint to catch up with him as I needed to know how this guy knew so many things about me and my deck. However, once I got to the corner he disappeared at, he was gone. Not like he was suddenly there and now he's not, but I didn't see any evidence that he was even there at all. I shook my head, not even wanting to believe what just happened.

"_Who was that guy? How did he know about my burn, and... how did he known my name?"_

I suppose the fact that I had a brace on my arm gave away the fact that I had some sort of injury, but there was no way he could know specifically that it was a burn. Why, for all he knew it could be a broken bone or joint problems or something. He also couldn't have known my name unless he heard other people calling me by my name. Could this guy have been stalking me? I didn't know, I just walked back to the park and sat back down to examine the card that guy gave me.

"True Guard." I repeated aloud, staring at this childish monster's portrait. This tiny monster was in a heroic pose in which it had it's sword raised high and a wide and bright smile on it's face as it winked. I didn't even know what I was suppose to use this card for, let alone how it was going to improve my flawed deck. I was a little in the dark about why this guy even gave it to me as well.

"There you are. Somehow I had a feeling you'd be here." I heard a familiar voice say. I looked up to see Riley leaning against the park's entrance, somewhat of a grin on his face. "Extra school project? Ryo's used that excuse twelve times already."

"_Figures, Riley is the smart one of the twins."_

"So you knew all along?" I asked. Riley nodded, and walked over to the swing set I was at. To sit down. I had just noticed by this time the sun was close to setting, and it was getting dark.

"What are you doing out here for?"

"I guess I just needed to think."

"About what?"

"About the way I've been doing in duels."

"I think you've been doing great, especially for an amateur."

"Then why is my track record so bad?"

Riley had a hard think about that, and eventually came up with what to say to a statement that seemed rather blunt.

"Well we all have rocky starts when we try something new, Haru. You can't expect to get beginner's luck right when you start dueling." Riley explained. I looked at my deck as Riley said this, and I couldn't help but think something.

"Riles, how were you when you first started dueling?" I curiously asked, looking up at Riley who was leaning on the poles suspending the swing's structure.

"Me? Well I was one of the lucky ones. I won most of my matches when I started to actually duel. However, that was because I did my research before I jumped into it. I studied the rules of duel monsters vigorously and studied a lot on my own in study hall." Riley started, staring upward away from me and looking at the sky increasingly growing dark. "I payed extra close attention in class and memorized the effects of a lot of different cards before I put my knowledge to use."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah, it took me about a year to actually start dueling. I even skipped out on my duel performance exams."

"Oh yeah, I remember that. Didn't you tell us you were sick?"

"Yeah."

"Why'd you do that anyway?"

This question I had made Riley think really hard, he looked down at the ground with an expression of deep pondering. Eventually he came to realize his answer.

"I guess it was because I was afraid of losing." Riley admitted.

"_Wow."_

"Afraid of losing? So what made you finally start dueling? Weren't you scared?"

"Yeah, I was. However, before my first match, I realized something." Riley started to recollect, I leaned in a little forward in my swing and waiting for him to finish. "I realized... well... let me put it this way, Haru. You're never going to meet a baseball fan who's never played baseball before." he chuckled as leaned away from the pole and stood upright. "There's no point in having knowledge if you can't put it to use."

I couldn't help but grin at this. That statement alone made me feel a little better about myself and my deck. I guess that was when I realized that with a game based on both skill and chance... your skill can only take you so far. You win some you lose some, but the important thing is that you realize you did your best and you keep going. I mean, why else did people play solitaire?

"Thanks Riles." I smiled as I got up from my seat. "We should really get home."

"Yeah, we should." Riley realized as we started walking. I looked at the card the strange man gave me. True Guard was a monster that I didn't think I would use, but on the off chance I did, I might as well have it in my deck. I placed the new card on the top of my deck to realize there was a card taped to the back of this one. Not another duel monsters card but a business card. I started to rip off this card from the other one's surface and saw what was on it. It was definitely a business card for some sort of company.

_The Arcadia Movement_

_ We escort you to hope..._

_ ...When it can't reach you._

_ Reff Caven- President of Arcadia_

That's what the card said. It was a blank card with these words inscribed with a fancy sort of writing and a purple pen. I've never even heard of this company let alone knew what this card was doing on the back of my duel monster's card.

"_Reff Caven. Could this be the guy I saw? No, it must at least be an employee though."_

I looked on the back of the card to see contact information. It had a phone number, address, fax number, P.O. box number...

"_Wait a second... who still uses a fax machine?"_

Email address, heck, it even had Reff Caven's personal cell phone number on there.

"_My god, who in the right mind gives away the president of a big company's personal number?"_

Unless of course this company was small and didn't have much business. In that case I suppose giving your personal number wouldn't be much trouble. Still though, that guy must at least be an associate of this company. What did this company do though? It didn't give you any clues on the business card, all it said was "We escort you to hope when it can't reach you". That could mean anything. Maybe I was thinking about this too hard, maybe I should call the number to see.

"Whatcha got there Haru?" I heard Riley suddenly ask, seeing him looking back to me as we walked. I immediately hid the business card behind me as he looked.

"Uh, nothing." I replied nonchalantly. For some reason I thought it would be a bad idea to show Riley or Ryo this card. After all, I did get it off a total stranger, and I don't think either of them would find it alright for me to call this number or possibly visit the building. I saw Riley arch his eyebrow as he turned back around. I wasn't quite sure if he was ok with my answer.

"_I'll keep this to myself until I know what this company does."_

HeroSpirit: "The first mention of the Arcadia Movement! Oooooo."

Haru: "I'm not sure I understand why you decided to mention Arcadia in the twelfth chapter."

HeroSpirit: "Oh come on, I had to ease in the characters and make them comfortable. I also had to mention psychic duelists before this so it wouldn't seem random."

Haru: "Excuses excuses..."


	13. Chapter 13: A Tune You Can Duel To Part1

Yu-Gi-Oh: Rise of Arcadia

Chapter 13: A Tune You Can Duel To Part 1

HeroSpirit groans on his computer

Ryo: "What's up?"

HeroSpirit: "I have some ideas for Riley's deck, but I'm wondering which to put into the fanfic."

Haru: "Draw straws?"

HeroSpirit: "How would that work?"

Ryo: "Flip a coin?"

HeroSpirit: "No."

Riley: "Roll a dice?"

HeroSpirit: "BRILLIANT!"

Haru and Ryo (in unison): "Grrrr."

It was saturday, and I always slept in late. This day was different however, because I wanted to get up a little earlier before the twins did and use the house phone.

"_Man where did Ryo put it. I know he used it to order pizza last night."_

Ryo orders pizza every friday night. It was like a sacred ritual to him. Anyway, that wasn't the point. The point was finding the phone and calling before the twins woke up. I had that Arcadia Movement business card in hand and I was hell-bent on calling that phone number. It had been itching and tearing at me all last night, and I barely got any sleep because of it. Although, I guess in retrospect I shouldn't have been so worried or even so curious about a company that I had never heard of. It was like being suspicious of a doctor you didn't personally know... it just makes things awkward.

"Ah!" I sounded quietly in victory as I found the home phone underneath the couch. Ryo was pretty irresponsible with the house appliances, so I knew it would be here. Why, if you needed to find any house appliance that Ryo previously touched in our house, all you had to do was look in the one place where you normally wouldn't look. That's how I found the blender in the bathtub. Long story.

I started to dial the number on the card, it wasn't a 1-800 number which kind of surprised me, as a lot of companies usually had those kinds of numbers. Anyway, as I dialed I held the phone to my ear and waited for a response. Hearing the dialing tone made me feel nervous, as I knew someone was going to pick up at any moment and I wasn't sure what to expect. Some may think I was being melodramatic about this, I mean, it wasn't like I was calling the most popular girl in school or something. Still though, I wasn't 100% sure this was a good idea.

"_Maybe I should just hang up and-..."_

"Hello?" I suddenly heard on the other line. "Hello?"

"Ah, um, yes. Is this the uh...Arcadia Movement?" I asked as I reached for the card so I could remember the name of the company.

"This is, who is this?" I heard from the other line. It was a female voice that I guessed to be the office's receptionist. I'm not sure why, but this voice from the other line sounded so familiar. It was as though I had heard it before through some means I couldn't quite recall. Anyway, I didn't know how to answer that question the receptionist gave me, as I wasn't sure giving my name was a good idea. I instead ignored the question and continued.

"I... uh... can you tell me what the Arcadia Movement is?" I asked, hoping this girl on the other line either wouldn't notice or wouldn't mind that I dodged her question. I waited a few minutes for her to answer, but she seemed to be thinking hard about it. It was almost like she was trying to think of an excuse or something.

"Who are you, how did you get this number?" the girl answered. I STILL couldn't quite put my finger on who's voice that was. I knew I heard it before, I just knew it.

"Uh, just some guy gave me the business card in the park. I was just calling the number." I answered, suddenly realizing how dumb that answer sounded. Maybe I should re-dial and maybe I'll get a different person to talk to.

"A person in the-... who gave it to you? Did you know him?" the receptionist followed up. Man, it was stunning how recognizable this voice was. Where did I hear this before? It was on the tip of my tongue.

"Who are you calling?" I heard someone say. Although, when I realized it wasn't the phone and flinched, and put away the phone to turn around. Ryo was rubbing the sleepiness out of his eyes as he yawned and walked into the living room.

"Nobody." I quickly answered. Maybe a little too quickly, because Ryo looked a little unbelieving of this. Once he snapped out of his post-sleep trance, he realized I was trying to cover something up.

"Nobody? I saw you with the phone talking to someone." Ryo realized as I tried to catch a glimpse of the phone behind my back. I attempted to keep him from seeing it to somewhat disprove his theory, but I couldn't help but think it wouldn't work... call me crazy.

"Talking to someone? I don't remember calling anyone." I obliviously said, giving a subtle grin.

"Really though, who were you calling? You weren't calling that pizza place again were you? I don't think that soggy cheese was their fault. After all, I reheated it and melted a lot of the cheese."

"_Wow, I didn't think it was that soggy."_

"I wasn't calling anyone."

"Really? Then what's that phone behind your back."

"What phone?"

"_That_ phone!"

"What phone?"

"The phone you have behind your back! I can see it Haru, you're not exactly _good_ at this game."

I guess Ryo was too smart for this, even for him. I would have guessed that he would have bought it though, after all, I usually am able able to fool him of all people. Ryo was fun like that, as he could fall for any joke whether it was fool proof or not.

"Well I was... uh... you see..." I stuttered, a little reluctant to say exactly what I was doing as my intention was originally to keep this a secret from the twins.

"_What do I tell him?"_

While I was thinking, Ryo cleverly reached behind my back and snatched the phone. I gasped at Ryo's quick movement as I suddenly found him holding it checking the caller ID.

"Who's number is this?" Ryo asked as he held the ID up to me. I attempted to grab the phone back from the twin, however, Ryo was playing a sick game of keep-away with me as he kept switching the position of the phone each time I grabbed it. Moving it way over one direction when I reached for the other.

"None of your business!" I growled, trying to regain the phone from Ryo's possession.

"Oh, you wanna play that game huh?" Ryo said a little disgruntled. I couldn't help but think it might not be the best idea to get Ryo angry. I mean, who knows what would happen. After all, the last time he got angry was over this limited edition duel monsters card he was going to get for his deck. However, when he arrived at the game shop too late as another kid was snatching it, we almost had a charge of assault on our hands.

"Ryo, look, I'm sorry but this is kinda something between myself ok?" I admitted. Ryo didn't seem convinced, as I usually never kept secrets.

"So it's so secret that you can't tell your best friend who you were calling? Are you in trouble with the mafia or something?" Ryo seemed to joke. "If you want I can 'borrow' some cash from Riley's wallet."

"Well no, it's just that..."

"Then what?"

"Well, I only want to keep it a secret because I know you're not going to like it!"

"Oh, now I'm _really_ curious as to what this is."

"Too bad, I'm not going to say it!"

"Alright then, fine!"

I crossed my arms in disapproval if Ryo's nosey attitude. If I wanted to keep something to myself, then who is he to say I can't? Is he my father or something? No, most certainly not. However, even though Ryo had this attitude, I saw him walk out of the room and into the hallway.

"_Oh good, he gave up. Good thing too. It's not like I'm not allowed to keep secrets from him."_

Although, even though I thought this was over, it wasn't. How did I know this? Ryo came back into the room carrying my duel disk under his arm. Ryo himself was already wearing his dark purple duel disk.

"Huh?" I grunted, slightly confused as to what Ryo was doing. Ryo calmly walked up to me carrying my duel disk and shoved it into my body with a hint of aggression.

"That's perfectly fine if you want to keep your little secret, but you'll have to win to _keep_ it a secret." Ryo challenged as I grabbed my duel disk to see my deck was already pre-inserted.

"Excuse me?" I questioned, finding this a little unreasonable.

"You heard me. We're going to have a duel. If you win, I won't bother you on the subject any more. However, if I win you have to tell me everything." Ryo explained as he took his deck from the living room table and slotted it in. I started to wonder why his deck wasn't in his pocket, but then I realized Ryo's pajamas had no pockets.

"Huh? Wait a second Ryo, isn't this a little far out? I mean come on, it's just a secret." I explained as I put down my duel disk on the kitchen counter.

"Well I figure it must be something important and possibly big if you hid something as dumb as a phone number." Ryo continued.

"Well, even if that's true, don't you think this is a little unreasonable?" I had to ask. This type of thing certainly wasn't exactly in Ryo's character. I mean, he's argent and impulsive, but he wouldn't do something as unreasonable as duel someone if they didn't tell him what he wanted to know.

"Unreasonable? Maybe, but I still think you should tell me who you called." Ryo answered. I couldn't believe this. Ryo had reached a new level of stupidity. Regardless though, I could tell he wasn't going to give this thing up. I didn't have much of a choice.

"Fine then!" I growled, donning my duel disk and watching it make it's transformation to duel mode. "If you're not going to drop it, then I don't have much of a choice."

"_Although the living room is a strange place to duel though."_

"Duel!"

**Haru:** 4000 LP

**Ryo:** 4000 LP

"This will be our rematch from our first duel, and I'm totally going to win this time! My move!"

"_Ryo's deck is obviously a beat-down deck. Beat-down decks are the ones that use really powerful cards and monsters to control the field and win. If I can keep him from attacking, I might be able to win again."_

"I summon, Jester of the Guild! (300ATK/400DEF)" Ryo called as he slammed down a monster card to reveal a bright blue portal in the center of the field. Out of it came a strangely dressed monster with a funny looking hat with bells. A mask divided in half with black and white paint was on it's face as it landed gently on the field and crouched down. "Next I activate my Jester's special ability! With my Jester as the only monster on my field, I can tribute him in order to summon a level four or below Guild monster from my deck or graveyard. So from his effect I summon, Swordsman of the Guild! (1500ATK/1300DEF)"

I saw Ryo's Jester tip it's funny hat and hop into the air. This strange monster did a full on backflip in mid-air as he started to glow. Rolling up into a ball, the monster's light shined and shattered to reveal Ryo's swordsman curled in a similar shape. The swordsman extended it's body, appearing on the field with bravery on it's holographic face.

"_So typical. Ryo seems to always start off with that swordsman. Luckily though, if he tries to attack with it next turn, I'll have a surprise for him."_

"I'll end my turn with two face-downs and end my turn." Ryo reported as I reached for my deck.

"My move then!" I called as I took the top card from my deck. I examined the card I just drew to find a familiar monster.

"_True Guard?"_

It was indeed that tuner monster I saw given to me by that stranger I saw at the park only a day ago. I didn't expect to draw this at all, as I wasn't aware that I put it in my deck. Regardless though, it was a pretty useless draw.

"_Damn! This thing is taking up a space in my hand now. If only I had drawn a monster that I could use."_

I examined my hand a little further to see that I didn't have any other monsters besides True Guard in my hand. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to have only three copies of three different monsters in my deck, because in total it only made like nine cards I could use. Even though I also had the five Kuriboh brothers in this deck as well, I couldn't exactly summon them due to the fact that I have to use Five Star Twlight. I really need more monsters in this deck.

"I'll set two cards face down and end my turn." I sighed, slotting in my cards and watching two hidden holograms appear on my field.

"My move! I'll start by activating the spell, Medieval Bravery!" Ryo cried as his spell card's hologram revealed itself on his field. The spell had a picture of several soldiers in knight-like armor all charging into battle against a foe that was far into the distance. The enemy was blacked out so it couldn't be seen though. "This spell card is a continuous spell that gives my guild monsters 500 extra attack points. Not only that, but every time one of my guild monsters destroys one of your monsters, I can add a merit counter on this card."

"A...merit counter?" I asked, slightly confused by this move.

"That's right. A merit counter is placed on this spell card for each monster I destroy, and for each merit counter on the spell, it gives my monsters an extra 100 attack point boost! The only condition for this spell card, however, is that all my monsters must remain in attack mode. If they don't, the spell is destroyed."

"_That doesn't sound good."_

"Now, Swordsman of the Guild (2000ATK/1300DEF), attack Haru directly!" Ryo commanded as his swordsman gave a battle cry and came charging through the living room at me.

"_I was hoping he'd do that."_

"Reveal trap card! Unstable Battlegrounds!" I smiled as I revealed one of my two face down cards. This purple trap card hologram had a picture of two armies of japanese-looking soldiers beginning to fall as they both battled atop a cliff.

"What? You must be joking!" Ryo gasped, going bug-eyed and stepping back. I grinned at this.

"By your reaction I'm guessing you know what this does. Unstable Battlegrounds is a trap that can only be activated when a monster with 1500 attack points or more is attacking me. With it, any monsters in attack position are switched to defense mode, and any monsters currently in defense mode are destroyed." I explained with a slightly evil snicker.

"But if they're switched to defense mode, that means..."

"It means your Medieval Bravery spell card is destroyed." I finished as I witnessed Ryo's spell card shatter, causing Ryo to shut his eyes in melodrama and and growl at me in frustration.

"Because of Medieval Bravery's effect, I lose 500 life points for every merit counter on the card when it's destroyed, but since it didn't have any counters, I take zero damage." Ryo finished angrily as he ended his turn.

"My move then." I acknowledged as I drew my card.

"_Ryo will switch his monster to attack mode next turn. I have to put out a monster this turn or else I'm in for a lot of damage. After all, my other face down card won't help me in this situation."_

I placed the card I drew into my hand and examined it.

"_Crap! Another trap card. This means the only monster in my hand is that tuner monster. That won't help me very much though. After all, I can only normal summon that thing in attack mode and with True Guard having very little attack points it won't reduce my damage by much."_

I decided that in the end it wasn't worth the lose. If a monster in my hand could only reduce my damage by a couple hundred points, it wasn't worth the sacrifice. Instead I examined my hand a little further to see what else I had.

"_Ah! This should help."_

"I activate the spell card, Paid Loan!" I smiled as I activated my familiar spell card. I remember first using this one in my duel against the stranger with fire monsters. "My Paid Loan is a spell card that lets me draw two cards this turn as long as I pay 500 life points next turn." I explained as I took two cards from my deck and my spell card shattered, sending it to the graveyard.

"_Finally!"_

"I summon to the field, Winged Kuriboh! (300ATK/200DEF)" I smirked as I finally managed to draw a monster that could defend me properly. My Winged Kuriboh took to the field as a bright blue portal opened in the field and out of it came flying my tiny-winged puff ball. It gently floated to my side of the field with a blank expression on it's face. "And I'll end my turn from there."

"My turn then. I'll start by activating the spell card, Guild Charter!" Ryo smiled as his spell card revealed itself as one of his face down cards. "With this, I can summon a level four or below guild monster from my deck, and I select... Troubadour of the Guild! (1000ATK/300DEF)"

"Huh?" I grunted. I remember this monster from Ryo's first duel with me. Unfortunately, I also remembered it was a tuner monster. As the teenage monster with the purple tabard and weird-looking guitar made it's appearance, it strummed once it's instrument as a way of showing off. As it landed on the field, Ryo smiled.

"Next I synchronize level four Swordsman of the Guild with level two Troubadour of the Guild!" Ryo informed as his new tuner monster took a leap into the air. Unfortunately it couldn't leap that far due to the low ceiling of the house, but non the less it jumped and shattered it's body. This left behind only two shining white orbs as they began to circle themselves around Ryo's swordsman causing him to glow.

A blinding white light filled the living room as I averted my eyes. Once my vision was clear, I saw a familiar monster. Why, it was a monster that I could have sworn Ryo used in our first duel.

"Synchro summon! Guildmaster's Guard! (2400ATK/2000DEF)" Ryo smiled as his warrior with shining, silver, plate armor appeared. I squinted my eyes to see once again the shining shield that donned the guild's purple and white crest. The monster stared at me rather intimidatingly through it's helmet. "My Guildmaster's Guard didn't get to show off his real power last time, but I plan on using him to his full extent this time!"

"_Wonderful, just add another headache to the list."_

"Now, Guildmaster's Guard attacks Winged Kuriboh!" Ryo commanded as his knight lifted it's golden sword and dashed at my monster. With a single and swift slash of it's precious blade, my Winged Kuriboh was sliced in half and shattered from the field.

"Due to Winged Kuriboh's effect, I don't take any battle damage from that fight." I reminded as I slotted in my Kuriboh to the graveyard.

"I don't think so."

"Huh?"

"Like I said, Haru. My monster didn't get to show off all his power. One of those powers is his secondary ability." Ryo smiled at this, and pointed towards his synchro monster, which was still on my side of the field for some reason.

"What... what is that?" I stuttered, a little frightened as to what this effect may be.

"Because of Guildmaster's Guard's secondary effect, I can choose to either let you take the battle damage from the attack I just made, or I can negate that battle damage and instead deal effect damage to you equal to half of Guildmaster's Guard's attack points!"

"What?"

"That means you take 1200 points of damage!" he shout as Ryo's monster lifted it's sword once more and slashed at my body. Due to it being a hologram it had no physical effect, but it definitely made me flinch.

**Haru:** 2800 LP

**Ryo:** 4000 LP

"_Damn! My Winged Kuriboh only protects me from battle damage. If it's effect damage I'm defenseless against it."_

"I end my turn from there." Ryo smiled as his guard returned to his field.

"My move then!" I growled as I drew and examined the card.

"_Miniature Defender? What good with this trap do me if I don't have a level one monster on my field!"_

"First off, due to the Paid Loan spell card I activated on my last turn, I have to give up 500 life points." I started as I continued my move.

**Haru:** 2300 LP

**Ryo:** 4000 LP

I placed the new trap card into my hand, and my attention went to that tuner monster I still had in my possession. While it was true that True Guard was indeed a level one monster that would work perfectly with my Miniature Defender trap card, it would only delay Ryo's attack. Not to mention it could fail epically if Ryo summoned another monster, but it may even cost me the rest of my points of Ryo summons another monster and destroys True Guard with a card effect instead. It was a flawed plan, yes, but what other choice did I have? I didn't have any other monsters to defend me.

"From my hand I summon the tuner monster, True Guard! (100ATK/100DEF)" I called as my diminutive monster took to the field. My child-like monster shot straight out of a bright blue portal with it's sword held high and wide grin on it's cartoonish face. It floated onto my field slashing it's weapon about furiously and confidently. An expression of genuine valor on it's face.

"_Pretty confident for a monster just a little bigger than my head. Not to mention that it only has 100 points of attack strength."_

"Next I'll set a card face down and end my turn." I sighed as I set my Miniature Defender trap. I looked over to Ryo who looked really confused.

"A tuner monster? I didn't know you had a tuner monster. Why do you even have that thing? You don't have any synchro monsters do you?" Ryo questioned. I couldn't help but shake my head at this. What was I supposed to tell him? I was using it because I got it from a guy off the streets? Fat chance of that happening.

"Just take your turn!" I growled as I felt an odd sensation in my duel disk. I snapped out of my annoyance and turned my attention towards it. My duel disk mounted on my arm was... buzzing? No, whirring, or maybe it was humming. Aren't they all the same thing? Anyway, point was something was going on inside the duel disk. It seemed like it was processing something it shouldn't. Once about a minute of confusion passed, my duel disk stopped, and I could focus on the duel.

"Fine then, I'll start by activating the spell card, Triumph of Dark Ages!" Ryo started as he slotted in his spell card. A green card hologram appeared on the field donning a picture of several citizens in medieval attire all having an elegant banquette. I arched my eyebrow at this card, slightly confused.

"What does _that_ do?" I asked in my confusion.

"Triumph of Dark Ages is a spell card that gives all my 'guild' monsters a unique ability. With it, my monsters are able to attack more than once this turn. In fact, they can attack as much as they want. The only condition to this card is that my monsters can't attack any more once they reduce your life points." Ryo explained as his synchro monster lifted it's sword.

"_Crap!"_

"Go Guildmaster's Guard! Attack True Guard!" Ryo commanded as his synchro monster charged at my tuner monster with a violent intent.

"_Even if I activate Miniature Defender, Guildmaster's Guard can attack again with Triumph of Dark Ages. While it's true that Miniature Defender will switch True Guard to defense mode, it won't stop Ryo's monster from doing piercing damage. Not only that, but with only 2300 life points and with the difference in our attack points being that much, if this attack goes through I lose!"_

I quickly examined my hand for a card that might be able to delay this. If I didn't do something I would lose this duel and I would have to tell Ryo about that phone call. Although, to be honest at this point I wasn't sure if keeping that from him was really worth it at this point. I mean after all Ryo has been my best friend and a substitute brother since I've known him. Maybe if I did tell him it wouldn't be so bad.

"_Wait a second."_

As I looked through my hand I spotted something that might be able to delay my defeat yet. I reached for my hand to take the card and slotted it into my duel disk.

"From my hand, I activate the quick-play spell card, Emergency Hotline!" I smiled. My spell card's hologram appeared on the field revealing a green card with a picture of a bright red home phone sitting itself inside of the glass casing. Next to this important-looking phone were a pair of bright red sirens mounted on the wall next to it. Both of these sirens in question looked like they were going off.

"Huh?" Ryo grunted, arching his eyebrow at this card.

"My Emergency Hotline spell card can only be activated when a monster on my field is about to be destroyed. With it, I can take that monster and put it back into my hand. Then I can special summon a level four or below monster from my deck and have _that_ monster take the hit instead!"

"What?"

"So with Emergency Hotline, I summon from my deck, Kuribon! (300ATK/200DEF)" I called as my duel disk began to shuffle my deck automatically using it's awesome technology. It shifted the cards around more and more until it sat still with a single card slightly extended at the top of it. I took this card to see it was the Kuribon card I was referring to, and I slammed it onto my duel disk. My Kuribon made it's appearance as True Guard, whom was still on the field, began to glow. It's bright shine caused True Guard to become a white silhouette and from that silhouette Kuribon came flying out as though it were a portal. Once Kuribon was on the field, it charged at Guildmaster's Guard, and ultimately was destroyed by it.

"_Ryo's monster has 2400 attack points and Kuribon has 300. This means that unlike True Guard, Kuribon will only give me 2100 points of damage to it's destruction meaning I'll survive this round."_

**Haru:** 200 LP

**Ryo:** 4000 LP

"Fine then, I end my turn." Ryo sighed, leaving it over to me. I wiped my forehead at that close call. I swear I was this close to losing again, and I wasn't planning on doing so this time. However, my situation wasn't looking good. I only had 200 life points while Ryo was still at full capacity with his life points. I didn't even know how I could turn this thing around with that large of a difference. Maybe it was just destined for me to lose with this deck even with the new monster in it.

_"That isn't necessarily a bad thing. You just need the right cards to counter that sort of weakness. A backup strategy if you will. In fact, I think I have a card that could do just that."_

Those words from that strange man in the park echoed into my mind just now. It started to force me to think about what he meant by that. Did he mean for me to use that tuner monster in a way I normally wouldn't? Maybe he wanted me to have it so it would somehow give my deck balance. I didn't know, but I had to think of something before next turn, because I was out of tricks.

"My move!" I growled, drawing my card. Once I examined it, I went wide eyed. Could this card turn things around for me?

"_It's an extremely long shot. I don't have another option though. If this works I could win, but if it fails I'll definitely lose."_

"From my hand I activate the spell card, Magical Recycle Bin!" I shouted as I slotted in the card I originally used in my duel with Takuya. "This card allows me to select a spell card from my graveyard and use it for the remainder of the turn. So from my grave I activate the effect of... Paid Loan!"

"Paid Loan?" Ryo asked, seeming totally lost by this point.

"That's right. As you recall, Paid Loan is a spell that lets me draw two more cards from my deck as long as I pay 500 life points next turn." I reminded, reaching for my deck.

"Wait a second. Paid Loan forces you to pay 500 life points. You only have 200 life points left." Ryo prompted.

"_Exactly."_

"That's why I'm going to place my faith in this last draw. I don't have anything else I could do. If this works, I'm the luckiest kid out there. If not, well go figure." I nodded. I drew from my deck and saw the two cards I drew. Once I saw what they were, I smiled.

"_This may work after all."_

HeroSpirit: "Waaaa! So much suspense! I feel so bad."

Haru: "You should be! Do I win or not?"

HeroSpirit: "That is to be revealed later."


	14. Chapter 14: A Tune You Can Duel To Part2

YuGiOh: Rise of Arcadia

Chapter 14: A Tune You Can Duel To Part 2

**Haru:** 200 LP

**Ryo:** 4000 LP

"First off, I activate the spell card, Flute of Summoning Kuriboh!" I smiled, revealing one of the two cards I drew this turn.

"Huh?" Ryo gasped, realizing what I was doing.

"This spell card lets me summon a Kuriboh monster from my deck, hand, or graveyard. So from my graveyard, come on back, Winged Kuriboh!"

As my spell card activated, a bright white light shined from my graveyard slot in my duel disk, and out of it came back the hologram of one of my most used monsters, Winged Kuriboh.

"Ha!" I suddenly heard someone cry. I flinched at this surprising and shrill cry and looked around. Where did that just come from. Was Riley watching or something? I could swear it was a real cry. Not exactly a cry for help, but sort of a short burst of laughter that mocked or showed confidence. I couldn't even find where it came from.

"_That was odd."_

I ignored this and continued my move. I looked back into my hand, and was about to play the second card in my hand that I drew.

"_If I play my Mystical Refraction Pond spell card, I can gain life points equal to any amount of damage I take during the turn. However, I can't play this during my opponents turn. So I guess I'll play this!"_

"I equip Winged Kuriboh with the spell card, Mini Boomer!" I grinned, realizing that perhaps my strategy could indeed be saved. An equip spell card hologram appeared on the field with a photo of a small spherical explosive with a counter on it's side reading five seconds. "With the Mini Boomer equip spell, my Winged Kuriboh can attack a monster and automatically destroy it! However, we both have to take damage equal to the destroyed monster's level multiplied by 200!" I explained as my equip spell card hologram began to glow, popping out a small ball of some kind that Winged Kuriboh seemed to fly towards and grab. As my monster held the explosive in it's tiny little arms, it gained an angry expression. It was like Winged Kuriboh knew what was coming next.

"What? That's insane! If that thing goes off we both take 1200 points of damage and you lose!"

"We'll find out soon enough. Go Winged Kuriboh, attack Guildmaster's Guard!" I commanded. I saw my small monster began to soar towards Ryo's synchro monster and go until it was directly above it. Winged Kuriboh then proceeded to drop it's miniature explosive down at Guildmaster's Guard like it was a plane and it was dropping a bomb. I saw the little bomb go off and light up the room. I shut my eyes as this took place, and once the light cleared I saw Winged Kuriboh on my field and Ryo without a monster.

"Nice suicide there buddy, looks like I win." Ryo gloated. I could only laugh as I drew my spell card from my hand.

"Sorry Ryo, but It's not over till the last card is played, and I still need to play _this_! Go, Mystical Refraction Pond!" I smiled as my spell card revealed itself. It donned a picture of a sort of japanese looking pond with a strange white glow to it. Ryo went wide eyed at this, and stepped back. "With Mystical Refraction Pond, I gain life points equal to an amount of damage that I would take this turn. Whether it's from a card effect or from battle, Mystical Refraction Pond coverts that damage into life points!"

"What?" Ryo gasped, obviously hoping that he had won this duel. As the card's hologram began to glow, I saw my life point counter begin to escalate.

**Haru:** 1400 LP

**Ryo:** 2800 LP

"I'll set one card face down and end my turn from there." I finished, crossing my arms in victory over this turn.

"_I probably shouldn't celebrate yet. Ryo can still make a comeback as long as he's got a deck of cards left. I just hope he doesn't manage to summon that synchro monster of his back to the field. If he does that I have no way of destroying it. At least, right now I don't."_

"My move then! I'll start things off by activating, Vengeful Spirit!" Ryo smiled, revealing a face down card on his field.

"_Crap! I forgot about his face down. I can't believe I fell for that trap."_

"Aw man, you had that all along and you were just waiting to spring it." I realized as Ryo revealed his card. Ryo's trap card was a purple hologram showing a picture of a egyptian-like tomb with several hieroglyphics on the walls. Hundreds of small angry looking spirits in the shapes of orbs flying about the tomb aimlessly.

"So you know what it does? This should be easy then. My Guildmaster's Guard has revenge to seek and this trap card will let him do it. With Vengeful Spirit, I can bring back Guildmaster's Guard from the graveyard and bring him back to the field. Only problem is this trap has to stay on the field as long as my monster is. If either one is destroyed, the other goes with it." Ryo explained. I recognized that card from a class that I had taken in school. We were talking about various ways to recycle powerful monsters once they've been destroyed, and that particular card was one of the first Ms. Godfrey mentioned.

As Ryo's trap activated, I saw the field begin to glow. Usually a bright blue portal appears to re-summon monsters to the field, but this time there was no portal. Instead there was a glowing ground underneath and a single hand extending from the ground like one of those cliché ways to scare the audience during a zombie movie. I saw the hand smash against the ground and rise itself from the earth, taking an entire body with it. Once the moment from a zombie movie was nearly done, I found out that the body rising up from the ground was Guildmaster's Guard. It looked like I hadn't even destroyed it, but I did, and it was back on the field.

"_Damn! I can't believe this."_

"Go, Guildmaster's Guard, attack Winged Kuriboh!" Ryo directed as he lifted his hand and pointed his finger directly at my recently brought-back monster. I gasped.

"_If this attack goes through, Guildmaster's Guard will activate it's effect and take my life points down to 200. Then, with the effect of my Paid Loan spell card still waiting to happen, I'll lose!"_

"If that's the case, time to spring my trap! Go, Shaded Decoy!" I revealed as I flipped my face down card upward to reveal a purple trap card with a photo of a dark hallway with a single lamp lighting it. This lamp hanging from the ceiling seemed to cast three individual shadows that looked like human silhouettes. Each silhouette looked two dimensional and ominous-looking.

"Huh?" Ryo gasped as I triggered my trap.

"My Shaded Decoy trap card can only be activated when a monster on my field is being attacked. With this trap, I can summon three Silhouette Tokens from this card and have one of my tokens take the hit instead." I explained. My trap card gained a dark and evil-looking glow to it, and the strange shadows from the card's picture began to move. These shadows creeped from the card like a portal and flatly and silently laid themselves onto the field. Afterwards, they stood themselves upright in their human-like shape until I had three two-dimensional looking shadows as my guards.

"Fine then, my Guildmaster's Guard will destroy one of those tokens instead! It makes no difference." Ryo insisted as his monster re-directed itself towards the middle token of the three shadows. However, before it could swing it's sword... the token disappeared. It evaporated in fact, before Ryo's synchro monster could touch it. "Huh?"

"You want to know the best part about my Silhouette Tokens, Ryo? Their effect lets me destroy them at any point during the duel as long as I discard a card from my hand. This not only means that since you don't have a target you're attack is negated, but it also means you're monster's effect doesn't activate since Guildmaster's Guard didn't destroy it through battle." I said, noticing I outsmarted Ryo.

"Seriously?" Ryo asked, slightly snarling at my succession in avoiding his attack.

"That's right, and since I discarded my Kuriwall trap card, that effect activates and you're attack fails."

"Fine, I end my turn."

"My move then."

I drew from my deck and placed my new card into my hand, thinking of my current options.

"_That trap will only hold off Ryo for about another turn. He can easily summon another monster or two next turn, and that alone could probably get through most of my defense."_

"Ha!" I heard from somewhere. There it was again. It was that childish little shrill of arrogance. It felt like it was coming from inside my head. I could hear it clearly like it was calling something. I don't know what it could be calling, as all I heard was a cry of confidence and determination. I looked back at my hand.

"_Wait... what the...?"_

The first card in my hand was that tuner monster True Guard. I could have sworn that I placed that card as like the fourth or third in my hand, how did it get to be the first? All my other cards were folded farther back into my hand as well. So far back I couldn't even see the pictures of the other cards. It was like that tuner monster wanted me to plainly see it. How was this possible though? How can your hand be in a certain arrangement at one second, and a different arrangement in the next? Something was for sure though, my instinct was telling me to play that card.

"_Sure, why not, I might as well fortify my defense."_

"I summon, True Guard! (100ATK/100DEF)" I called as I slapped down the monster card onto my duel disk. A bright blue portal opened in the middle of the field, only to have fly out a small, childish warrior monster appear on my field. The same one that appeared before. As it floated to my field it drew it's sword and pointed it at Guildmaster's Guard. It was almost like it was taunting it in some way, shape, or form.

"_Huh?"_

I could feel some sort of vibration in my duel disk. There it was again. It was like it was processing faulty data of some sort. It definitely didn't sound good as it actually started to shake. My duel disk could be plainly seen vibrating, at least from my view.

"_What the heck is up with this thing!"_

I suddenly felt a click. It was a soft and swift click that I could just barely hear, and I examined my duel disk as it stopped it's erratic vibration. I looked all around it to see what was wrong with it. Did it break? Did one of the gears pop out? No, the monster card holograms were still there.

"Yo Haru, what's up? Still your move man." Ryo impatiently said.

"Hang on." I implored as I looked into my graveyard so I could get a somewhat good view of the inside of the duel disk.

"_What in the..."_

I found what the problem was. The bottom of my graveyard slot had opened like a trap door, revealing a secret compartment for... some kind of machine? No, there was something inside. They were white, they had text on them. What were those things? I reached into the compartment and lifted the lid of it a bit more so I could reach inside. I managed to grab a hold of whatever was in there and slid it's contents outward. Once they were about half way out, I saw what they were.

"_Duel monsters cards?"_

I slid these cards all the way out to see what they were. These cards were white, and donned pictures of white monsters. These colors of the cards signaled they were synchro monsters, since they were white and all. I examined how many of these cards there were. I think there must have been five or six, something like that. As I stared at these cards, something came to mind.

_"Because I have no use for a tuner monster. I don't even have any synchro monsters."_

_ "Not now you don't, anyway."_

"Could these be the cards that guy was talking about?" I asked myself.

"Yo Haru! Whatcha got there? Come on man quite stalling, I'm about to win!"

I ignored this comment by Ryo and looked through these cards once more. Once I found one that caught my eye, I examined it's text for but a few seconds, skimming through to see what it was about. Once I did, I smiled.

"_This is completely unbelievable."_

"Haru! Earth to Haru, hurry up and end your turn already! I want to do this quick! You're not going to win you know, so just hurry up." Ryo arrogantly said.

"How many times do I have to say it Ryo. It's not over till the last card is played, and I still need to play_ this_!" I smiled as I took one of these white cards and held it up. Ryo gasped. What he saw seemed impossible.

"A... synchro monster? Since when have you had a synchro monster!"

"Since just now." I simply replied, pointing to my monsters. "Now I synchronize level one True Guard with level one Winged Kuriboh!"

True Guard looked back at me with a look of confusion, but after a moment he gained an overjoyed expression as though it knew what it was supposed to do. With a confident and goofy smile, True Guard leaped into the air all limbs extended in different directions. True Guard shattered leaving behind a single glowing white orb. This orb zipped over to Winged Kuriboh still on the field and began to revolve around it. Winged Kuriboh looked determined and vicious as it knew what was going on as well, and with a single ring forming around Winged Kuriboh it caused it to glow. Winged Kuriboh produced a shine that was blinding as I shut my eyes along with Ryo. Once my vision cleared I noticed a newfound monster on my field.

"Synchro summon! True Wing! (0ATK/0DEF)" I shouted as my monster extended it's wings. On my field now was a large white bird floating in the middle of the field, wings extended like arms and skinny, bird legs with it's feet extended like it was getting ready to pick up it's prey. This bird monster had the appearance of a sort of large robin with an all white paint job. It's beak a light yellow and a pair of large eyes on it's head. These eyes twisted into an angry and courageous expression.

"_So this is what it's like to synchro summon."_

"Where... where did you get that?" Ryo gasped as he saw my summon. "How did you even bring that thing out with just two low level monsters?"

"It's simple. True Wing is a level two synchro monster that can only be summoned with True Guard as a tuner and a level one light attributed monster. Winged Kuriboh just so happened to fit that description." I explained after my synchro monster made it's appearance. "And with it, I'm going to..."

"Will the two of you _keep it down_! Some of us are trying to _sleep in_!" I suddenly heard as I was interrupted from my victory speech. I flinched at the sudden noise and looked over to the hallway where Riley was emerging with a drowsy expression. "I swear for the past half hour It's been hell for me. Hearing you guys out here when I'm trying to get some sleep after staying up all night to watch that documentary on advanced summoning techniques. A documentary I might add, that _Ryo_ insisted we watch!" Riley ranted as his drowsy expression started to lift and twist itself into an angry one. Riley looked from corner to corner of the room, and glared.

"_Oh man."_

"Are you two dueling? Are you serious? Do you have any idea what time it is? Honestly, the neighbors are going to complain about the noise or something, and the two of you could at least have the decency to take it outside!" Riley continued. Perhaps I neglected to mention how cranky Riley gets in the morning. This is especially true if he hasn't gotten enough sleep.

"Um, Riles relax ok? This is all Haru's fault for not telling me what that phone call was about!" Ryo blamed as he pointed his finger at me and lowered his duel disk.

"Phone call? So that's what this is about? Haru wouldn't tell you about a phone call and you're dueling him?" Riley questioned as he started to think.

"Yeah, and _he_ insisted that we duel so I would shut up about it!" Ryo fibbed as he started to whine like a small child. I face-palmed.

"You lying little brat! Don't stretch the truth just so you look good out of it!" Riley angrily replied, pointing his finger back at him in defiance to his attempt at putting this incident on me. My jaw dropped as Riley amazingly and instantly knew what his twin brother was doing.

"_I can't believe he knew."_

"Both of you drop your duel disks and sit down. Then give me a second to wake myself up before I continue." Riles ordered the both of us rubbing his temples and closing his eyes as we cowardly did as we were told. In the household, Riley was the truly responsible one and Ryo and I knew it. That's why he seemed like a parental figure more than anything else. The holograms from our duel began to disappear as Riley paced back and forth in front of the couch where Ryo and I sat, deliberating what to do next.

"_How did this end up with Riley as the parent and Ryo and I as the kids getting punished?"_

"Let me get this straight. Haru was making a phone call early in the morning about something he doesn't want to talk about, and Ryo walked in the moment of the call still in the process of being made, and you're mad because he wouldn't tell you about it?" Riley summarized after about half an hour of explaining the situation clearly to him. If you're wondering why it took us that long to explain, it's because Ryo is a brat.

"Exactly." the both of us said in unison. Riley nodded to this, and thumped Ryo on the head.

"You spoiled little child! What's up with you? You think you have to know everything in this house!" Riley angrily said taking my side of the conversation.

"Ow! Well it's just that, it had to be important to keep it a secret right? I just wanted to know what was so important about it." Ryo whined, holding his head at the abuse he suffered from his brother.

"Geez! If it's that important to you, here!" I growled, completely tired of this situation as is, and realized it wasn't worth keeping a secret anymore. I took the business card from out of my pocket and tossed it at Ryo, who seemed intrigued by it. Ryo examined the front and back of the card closely, and afterwards only had this to say.

"The Arcadia Movement. We escort you to hope when it can't reach you." Ryo repeated from the card and arched his eyebrow. Riley snagged the card and examined it for a fair amount of time, and gave me an odd look.

"Where'd you get this?" Riley asked with a perplexed look.

"Some guy at the park. He gave it to me along with a duel monsters card." I replied, standing up and reaching for my duel disk on the kitchen counter to fish the card out from my deck. Once I had it in hand, I went back to the twins to show it to them. "It's this one right here."

"True Guard? A tuner monster? Never heard of it." Riley admitted, taking the card to examine it. "Why'd he give you a tuner monster though, you don't have any synchro monsters do you?"

"Actually..." I started, walking back over to my duel disk to show the twins that extra surprise I got during my duel with Ryo. It took me a second to find the secret slot of the disk and an even longer time to pry it open again. I knew you weren't suppose to force gears like that, but what else could I do? I didn't know how I opened the slot in the first place. Once I got the slot beneath my card graveyard open, I took the hidden cards that I had placed back in there out again. Showing my friends the collection. Riley examined these cards in my hand with a close eye and took them to examine them further. Now having my tuner monster and all my synchro monsters in his hand, he went wide eyed as he examined each one.

"My god, I've never seen anything like these. They're synchro monsters and yet they're such low levels. They're completely ideal for a deck filled with low level monsters. Where did you get these?" Riley inspected as he skimmed through each one.

"I'm not sure, they were in a slot inside my duel disk. Not really sure how they got there." I honestly replied. Riley didn't seem to like that answer, as it only raised more questions.

"This Arcadia Movement company, you think we could get some answers there?" Riley proposed as he gave back my cards. I took them back into my hand and folded them into a stack, with the Arcadia Movement business card at the top of the stack. "After all, it's business card came with that monster."

"It's worth a shot." Ryo nodded, standing up from the couch and looking at the cards in my hand.

"Right, we'll go first thing tomorrow when this place is open. It's not exactly my idea of spending my weekend, but my curiosity is getting the better of me with this place." I sighed. It definitely wasn't my curiosity getting the better of me, I just wanted to see that guy I met at the park again. Not only was he the one who gave me the card, but somehow he also knew about that burn wound I had gotten during my duel with that weirdly dressed duelist. I was still racking my brain on that one. How is it possible to actually get injured during a duel, and how was that guy even able to do it? I thought I would get some form of answers if I went to the Arcadia Movement, but I didn't know _how_ I'd get them.

"Oh! By the way Riles, mind if I skim through your card collection?" I suddenly asked, remembering something that I probably should do. Riley arched his eyebrow.

"My collection? What for?" he asked, crossing his arms. As he did this, I flipped over the Arcadia Movement's business card to look at the card underneath. My True Guard tuner monster.

"Oh... no reason. I just want to accommodate for a new card in my deck."


	15. Chapter 15: Calculated Risks Part 1

Yu-Gi-Oh: Rise of Arcadia

Chapter 15: Calculated Risks Part 1

The next day arrived. I felt my nerves weakening as I stared at the large building in front of us. We did as we promised and arrived at the Arcadia Movement's building. After cross-referencing the address on the business card, we managed to find it, and we were shocked.

"Can one of you guys please tell me how we lived in this city all our lives and yet we still managed to miss this thing?" Ryo gasped as we all stared straight up a huge skyscraper like building. My jaw nearly dropped as I realized this place must be one of the highest points in New Domino City, and yet I had never seen it.

"I never thought I'd say this, but I have no idea." Riley confusingly replied as he shook his head at the enormity of the Arcadia Movement's building. "Are you sure this is the address?"

As I listened to the twin's questions, I stared towards the company's multiple double doors and the sign above it. It clearly printed "The Arcadia Movement" on it in carved, shiny, metal letters.

"Call me crazy, but I think so." I sighed pointing to the sign. I think Riley was too busy looking upward at the building rather than looking straight ahead. "You guys ready for this?"

"I don't know. Do we need an appointment or something?" Ryo seemed to joke, although he didn't say it like one.

"Don't know, doesn't say anything on the card about it. Probably not." I admitted, holding the card up to my face and comparing the company's sign with the card. It was the same address and name, so it must have been the place. "Let's head in then."

I adjusted the brace on my arm a bit as Riley opened the door for us. Inside we saw a fantastic-looking design like nothing we had ever seen. The room we were in was connected to all the floors, and each floor could be seen from where we stood. As we walked in, we saw each of the twenty or thirty floors flying upwards around us in a perfect square. In the middle of this square were four glass elevators, each one adjacent to each other in the form of another smaller square. I gasped at this, seeing each of the elevators leading to the higher floors like a stairway to heaven. A heaven that I couldn't even see from where I stood, as the building was just too tall.

"Wow! What in the..." Riley gasped. This surprised me as Riley usually gasps a little more intelligent-sounding than that. He usually utters "dear god" or "oh my" or something like that.

"My question still stands... how in the hell did we ever miss this place?" Ryo said still struck in awe.

"It looks bigger on the inside than on the outside." I observed, shaking my head.

"Excuse me, do you have an appointment?" I heard someone say from behind. It was a rather familiar voice too. Could it have been the voice from that reception desk lady I talked to on the phone? It definitely sounded like it. I pivoted myself around to see where this voice was coming from, and widened my eyes.

"Mina?" I gasped, a little in disbelieve of this. Mina, the Mina Halls from school, stood in front of me in a uniform separate from her school one. It was a uniform consisting of a white shirt underneath a purple vest. The vest donned a crest of the letter "A" and a dark violet skirt was also part of this outfit, and Mina gasped.

"H-haru? What are...what are you doing here?" Mina choked, seeming to disbelieve that we were standing in front of her. Mina looked downwards, unable to perform eye contact.

"Well, I received a card from here and...wait a second! What are _you_ doing here?" I countered, revealing that I was just as confused as Mina was. Mina gulped, and looked slightly upward, managing to look at my face with difficulty.

"Well I... I have a internship here. I'm... I'm only working here." Mina stuttered, immediately looking back down once she had finished her statement.

"_There she goes again, being all shy. What's up with that?"_

"Well I received this place's address not to long ago, and I wanted to see-..." I started, but I was interrupted by a new voice that joined into the conversation.

"Mr. Haru Fuki! It's so nice to finally see you again!" I heard a recognizable voice say. I instantly turned to behind me towards the shiny glass elevators as someone walked out of them.

"_It's that guy."_

I remembered this guy all too well. It was the same guy that had given me that card while I was mourning for my confidence. It was the same white haired guy walking towards us in a white business suit and a dark purple tie. He walked over with a smile of joy on his face as he adjusted his glasses. "You also brought friends I see! Welcome, the both of you."

"Ah, Mr. Caven!" Mina surprisingly said, clumsily approaching the man and bowing. "I was just asking these three if they had a... um.." Mina nervously said. The man smiled and patted Mina on her head.

"Now now Miss Halls calm down. As far as I'm concerned these three are my guests and are welcome here at any given time." the man replied cheerfully as Mina looked up, seeming to smile at this man's generosity.

"_Mr. Caven, why does that name sound familiar."_

I immediately checked my pocket for the company's business card. I knew I had heard that name somewhere before and I needed to remember something on that card. I had a feeling there was something there similar to this guy's name. I looked at the back of the card to see if I was right.

_ The Arcadia Movement_

_ We escort you to hope..._

_ ...When it can't reach you._

_ Reff Caven- President of Arcadia_

"_This guy is the president of Arcadia?"_

"I apologize on all our behalves sir. I'm sure it's a bit inconvenient for us to come here unannounced." I heard Riley pardon, bowing his head to the man obviously realizing who he was. Mr. Caven smiled.

"Nonsense! Nonsense my friends, I sent Mr. Fuki here a personal invitation, which by the way I see you found. Although I wasn't expecting him to bring guests, you all are welcome here. Come, let me show you around." Mr. Caven generously offered as he stepped sideways and gestured towards the elevator he originally came out of. "Miss Halls, please attend to the main desk and all my calls while I'm with my guests."

"Uh... um... y-yes sir." Mina nodded unsurely as she started speed-walking towards a door located on the far side of the room, she opened the door secretively as though she didn't want anyone to see what was inside. I arched my eyebrow as Mina entered the room and Mr. Caven gestured us to follow him.

"_Why is Mina working in a place like this? I mean it seems nice but I've never even heard of this place, let alone the fact that they were hiring."_

As the four of us walked into the clear elevator, it was almost like I was stepping onto a fragile structure that could collapse on me at any second. After all, this thing was made of glass right? Could it support our combined weight? I was guessing so, as Mr. Caven didn't seem to mind.

"We'll be taking the route to level 24, this is where our... how you say.. neat toys are stored." Mr. Caven smiled as he dialed in the number on the elevator's keypad located inches away from the clear door.

"Level 24? How many levels are there?" Ryo curiously asked as we all felt ourselves being lifted. I turned around and looked out the see-though siding to see the ground start to leave us. I couldn't help but feel a little sick. I was never good with heights.

"How many? I believe there's 36 but to be honest I've lost count. I do remember we're having level 28 remodeled though, so there must be that many." Mr. Caven realized. "I do hope none of you are afraid of heights."

"_Oh so NOW he asks."_

"My god, how tall is this building!" Riley replied in response to this shocking remark by Mr. Caven. Mr. Caven casually tapped his foot on the glass floor as we were propelled upwards, which really made me feel uncomfortable thinking that if he taps that thing to hard the glass will break and all of us will fall. As Riley asked his question, Mr. Caven started to laugh.

"Oh my, almost tall enough to be the Sector Security tower's big brother." Mr. Caven chuckled to himself. As we rose higher and higher up the building, I was completely focused on our height. I knew that we should be safe, but I had the feeling that this place was dangerous solely because of it's falling hazard.

"Mr. Caven..." I heard Riley start.

"Please, call me Reff." Mr. Caven interrupted, as he gestured Riles to continue.

"Uh... right. I don't mean to be rude, but I haven't even heard of this place before. Why is that?" he finished looking down towards the ground as we went a bit higher in the elevator.

"Well the company doesn't personally advertise. Far too much money and trouble for that when the company is prosperous as is." Mr. Caven finished as the elevator stopped. I flinched as it made a sudden stop and seemed to rock a little bit. It was like the elevator was on a string and the shock from stopping made it swing. "Ah! Here we are!"

I began to step out as we were heading out onto a wide catwalk with metal bars for siding. I couldn't help but think how unsafe that was, and that someone could easily fall to their death. I gulped, realizing this made me nervous.

"Where are we even going?" Ryo asked a little informally as we exited the catwalk onto the main floor. In front of us was a hallway with several doors in the horizon.

"I wanted to show you all something. It's something very recent that has been added to the company that I'm sure you'd enjoy." Mr. Caven insisted as he led us down the hall, passing door after door all of which by the way were unlabeled. You couldn't tell one door from the next, so how were you suppose to find anything? I wondered this as I was watching the president of Arcadia himself give us a grand tour.

"_I can't forget the reason I'm here is so I can ask this guy questions. I need to know how he knows so much about me. Especially how he knows about my burn."_

I started to recall that scene a couple of days ago, I had seen this guy with a similar outfit and the same cheerful and optimistic attitude.

_"I think it's very interesting that your deck relies on level one monsters. It requires a very strategic person to use a deck like that. After all, a deck with such weak monsters most certainly cannot use the direct approach to dueling."_

That was definitely the truth, but I didn't consider something like that until he said it. Mr. Caven's ability to evaluate someone's deck in just a few split moments rather intrigued me.

_"By the way, Haru, I hope that burn heals up nicely."_

That quote on it's own was also really surprising. What I want to know is how this guy knew my name before I told him, and how he knew that burn on my arm was actually a burn. Could he have been watching me? Stalking me? Perhaps he even caused the burn in the first place.

"_Could this guy have been that strangely dressed guy I dueled? The one with the fire cards?"_

I gasped at this thought, as it seemed unlikely. After all, he was the one who tried to kill me in the first place. Why would he deliberately try to kill me and then try to help me only a few days later? It didn't make much sense, but it was the only thing I could go on. In fact, I had to safely assume that this guy was the same one with those dark flame monsters in order to stay on guard.

"Here it is!" I heard Mr. Caven say as he stood in front of a random door and smiled.

"_How can you tell? These doors all look exactly the same."_

"Mr. Caven, if I may ask, how can you tell which door is correct? They all seem to look alike." I heard Riley realize as he looked around him and back at Mr. Caven. Mr. Caven started to chuckle.

"Oh, well I can always tell which door is the right door. After all, this is my company." Mr. Caven smiled as he grasped the doorknob and began to turn it. I couldn't help but think going into that room was a bad idea. Maybe it was this guy's cheerful attitude. I mean, nobody is that happy, even if he is representing his company. I was also a little suspicious of anything this guy was going to show me ever since I met him.

As Mr. Caven opened the door, I could see nothing. It was darkness in fact, pitch blackness that nobody could see through. Mr. Caven insisted that we all walk through, and the twins did as they were told. I definitely wasn't going to fall for this though, as I was all too aware of stuff like this that happened in scary movies. Someone lures you into a dark room just so they can backstab you when you aren't looking. I adjusted my brace as I stared down Reff Caven, the guy who was going to lead me to my doom.

"Dear god! Haru, you need to see this!" I heard Riley yell inside the room. My eyes widened.

"_Huh?"_

I flinched as I saw a light turn on in the open room I was standing in front of, and gasped as I saw a white room with pitch black lines painted on the floor in the design of a duel arena. Out of curiosity, I stepped inside, and looked around. On one side of the room, there was a monitor with two separate life point counters. Underneath these monitors were two separate monitors that signified they were separate counters for something for something during a duel. Perhaps they were used to show the amount of face down cards active or maybe the number of cards in each player's hand. Either way I think I was about to find out.

"Gentlemen, welcome to the company's duel simulation chamber." Mr. Caven smiled as he extended his arms upward and revealed the room to us. I was ecstatic as to how big this place was. It was the size of an average duel arena, and at the same time it was on a high floor. It was a wonder this place hadn't collapsed into the ground.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Riley exclaimed as a wide smile crept across his face. This creepy smile was for a terminal that was sitting only feet from the wall. The terminal was a dark grey with a Kaiba Corp insignia on it's front. The terminal was in the shape of a large rectangle as it sat in the middle of the room seeming like part of it, or perhaps part of the floor. One or the two. "Is this the Duelbot-4000's control terminal? How did you even get this? This is a state-of-the-art hologram program!"

"_Uh oh, Riley's geeking out again."_

"Oh my, you certainly know your technology. Yes, it is indeed the latest model. Our residents here use it to practice their dueling." Mr. Caven smiled as he stared at Riles fiddling with the keyboard. Just a moment ago Riley was talking all polite and respectful, and here he is whoring the terminal like he owned it. Pardon my french.

"This is incredible! I read about these in Duelware Today. It's a program created by Kaiba Corp themselves, and there's only like... four models in the whole world!"

"Four of them?" I quizzed. "Where are the other three?" As I approached the terminal, I could see there was a small monitor beside several switches and levers, each one controlling something different I assumed.

"As far as I know, Kaiba Corp owns and has installed one of them into the subdivisions of the company. Another one was shipped to Duelist Kingdom for installation into the island itself. It's said that the master of illusions himself made modifications to it so the entire island is affected by the system's holographic displays. There are even rumors that the environments there are holograms themselves." Riley started to explain, still fiddling with the keyboard and switches. His eyes never blinked as he messed with this toy owned by Arcadia.

"So one is at Kaiba Corp, another is at Duelist Kingdom, the third one is here, so where's the fourth one?" I asked, looming over Riles as he did his work.

"Nobody knows. It's rumored that it was stored in a warehouse because nobody was rich enough to buy it, but there's no proof of it being anywhere in the world. It's like it disappeared." Riley replied as he smiled still stoking the keys. "This is incredible! The computer has data on thousands of duel monsters cards, maybe even millions!"

"I wouldn't say that. Although it is rather impressive when it comes to dueling. This is why we have it in fact. It works as an excellent training instructor. Also, if you set it to a certain mode, it will critique your dueling as you duel with it." Mr. Caven explained as he seemed to grin at the monitor, examining the data that Riley was accessing.

"Critique?" I asked, looking over to Mr. Caven as he approached.

"It'll tell you all the mistakes you make during each turn. That is, all the mistakes you make based on it's knowledge." Riley added, still currently geeking out on the terminal. I swear, Riley might just marry that thing when he gets older. "It's an incredible thing it is! Why, the computer is the perfect duel opponent. Just the sheer thought of fighting a computer which can easily calculate the correct and incorrect moves to make. Dueling on pure observation and calculation using probability. Playing it's cards based on the safest and most efficient moves _based_ on those calculations! It's a marvel I tell you! The perfect opponent in every way!"

"That reminds me why I brought you all here." Mr. Caven reminded himself, suddenly remembering something and signaling that aloud by pounding his fist to his palm. "I just about forgot." he added as Mr. Caven turned his head and gaze over towards me. His deep blue eyes seemed to stare straight through my body even through those glasses of his. "Haru, would you like to try the simulator?"

"Uh... me?" I surprisingly asked, adjusting my brace slightly and pointing towards myself. "I... I really don't think that's..."

"Oh come on, it should be fun. I'm very curious to see your skill level. I'm even more curious to see how you duel with that deck of yours." Mr. Caven gently pressured. I couldn't help but think that dueling in front of this guy was a bad idea, and I was just about to...

"What?" I suddenly heard from Riley's mouth. I saw him rush over in front of me and push himself into Mr. Caven's sight. "Mr. Caven please I mean no disrespect but it's been my dream nay my life's purpose to duel one of these things I beg of you no I beseech you to let me duel the Duelbot-4000 first!" Riley said all in one breath, straining his lungs with that extremely long and seemingly endless statement. Riley panted as Mr. Caven's eyes widened. I clearly saw he didn't expect that out of Riley of all people. After taking a moment to regain his composure Mr. Caven smiled and replied.

"Oh my. Well I certainly can't turn down that sort of statement. Please go on ahead. In the terminal's cabinet on the side is a duel disk ready for any participant." Mr. Caven said rather unsurely. I couldn't help but notice that Mr. Caven didn't seem all too thrilled that Riley was going first. Could it be he really wanted to see me duel that badly? Maybe he was just curious to see how I'd duel with that new card he gave me. How did he even know I have it though? Maybe he didn't, but regardless it seemed a bit strange.

Riley bowed to the rich president of Arcadia and dashed to the terminal's duel disk compartment. Inside was a bright white rectangular duel disk which was nearly the size of the human hand. This white rectangular duel disk had a wrist strap underneath it and a deck slot clearly visible. The duel... uh... duel rectangle had a black circuitry design on it to give it a cyber-like look to it. Riley immediately donned the wrist strap and fastened the duel rectangle to his arm. After searching for his pocketed deck, he ran to the other side of the field and positioned himself on the other side.

"Set the simulated opponent for level six! I don't want to start out slow, but I don't want this too difficult either on my first try." Riley instructed as Mr. Caven seemed to nod and inched to the terminal. After a bit of typing a window on the monitor appeared, showing a dial that signified the opponent's level. It's current level showed "0" which I was guessing meant it was off, but as Mr. Caven typed, the number seemed to increase slowly. As the number went up by one every other second or so, I saw it reach the level Riley requested, six.

"Alright now, the simulated opponent will be using virtual cards using a virtual body. After establishing a connection with your duel disk, the duel will begin." Mr. Caven announced as something appeared to be happening on the other side of the field. It appeared that the wall on the other side was changing. Well, not quite changing as in physically but its color scheme seemed to switch. A grey wall instead of a white one appeared, and a sort of humanoid silhouette seemed to sketch itself in. After only moments, the silhouette began to move and outstretched itself towards the field. As it outstretched, a sort of hologram appeared with the appearance of a mechanical arm reaching out from in the wall. As this happened, I realized that it was the duelbot emerging from the wall as a sort of animation. It was like the duelbot was a shadow that was materializing itself from a two dimensional image to a three dimensional figure. The duelbot had a chrome and shiny-looking grey coat. It's humanoid figure was actual comprised of several square figures, cubes if you will. It's head made up of a black television screen that showed two dots with a straight line underneath. I'm guessing it was some sort of pixelated attempt at a face. On it's right arm was a duel disk, actually. Another white rectangular one like the one Riley was currently using.

"_That's incredible."_

"Processor online. Duel disk connection established. Now activating deck randomizer and selecting deck to utilize in duel." the duelbot uttered. It used a very deep voice in a creepy monotone. I knew it was a robot, but the way it was speaking was so inhuman it could send you chills.

"The duelbot has exactly 329 decks that it's able to use proficiently. It's now randomly picking one of them and uploading the card data to it's duel disk." Mr. Caven smiled as he stepped back and leaned against the wall.

"That's incredible, so there's no telling what kind of deck Riles is going to face." Ryo gasped, turning towards his brother. In an instant I saw Ryo cup his hands around his mouth and shout... "Yo Riles! I don't care what kind of deck this guy uses, you better send his sorry virtual tin can to the cleaners, you got me? Or am I going to have to duel him and win for you?" Ryo shouted arrogantly. This caught Riley's attention as he thought about his twin brother's words, and gave him a thumbs up with his duel disk arm as he inserted his deck into it. As the duel disk sensed the deck, it opened a compartment in the back of itself and extended a square rod. This rod pivoted itself around the duel disk until it was at the side of it's rectangular structure, and extended itself to reveal five monster card slots infolded inside of it. A graveyard compartment soon opened up as the duel disk made it's simple transformation.

"Deck established. Duel mode engaged." the creepy sounding robot said. As the duelbot spoke, the rod that it had for a mouth on it's screen for a face seemed to vibrate. It was like the mouth mimicked the sound waves it was emitting.

"Right then, lets go!" Riley confidently said, raising his duel disk in front of him.

"Duel!"

**Riley: **4000 LP

**Duelbot: **4000 LP


	16. Chapter 16: Calculated Risks Part 2

Yu-Gi-Oh: Rise of Arcadia

Chapter 16: Calculated Risks Part 2

HeroSpirit: "I apologize for the lateness of this chapter, but I have been preoccupied with a recent piece of work that I will be soon releasing to . Under the same screen name of course.

**Riley: **4000 LP

**DuelBot: **4000 LP

As I looked on each side of the field. Each side looked ready to go. Riley was about to duel a computerized duelbot and attempt to win against it. This was despite the fact that Riley mentioned that computers are the perfect opponent. Regardless though, I admired Riley's courage against this kind of opponent.

"Go Riles!" I cheered from the sidelines, adjusting my brace a little as I looked to his side of the field.

"This unit will begin the duel. Begin turn." the duelbot insisted in it's creepy monotone as it's cubic body raised it's duel disk. At that moment cards began to fly -literally fly- outward of the duelbot's duel disk. I knew it was all a hologram, but you had to admit it was good presentation. As the duelbot's second arm remained at it's side, the cards that were drawn with the duelbot's program seemed to soar around the robot and freeze in place in front of the duelbot's chest. This way nobody could see the cards it drew, and nobody would know what to expect. "This unit will begin by activating the spell card... Tribute to Royalty."

"Tribute to Royalty?" Riley confusingly said, seemingly aware of what the card did but just confused as to why the duelbot would play it.

"Correct. Tribute to Royalty is a spell card that allows this unit to special summon a level four or below monster from this unit's hand at the cost of one level five or above monster card from this unit's hand. This unit will now sent the monster card... Alacar – Beast of the Molten to the graveyard to activate the effect of Tribute to Royalty."

As the spell card activated, one of the cards against the duelbot's chest seemed to disintegrate as the spell card's hologram appeared on the field. With it came a picture of a poor-looking medieval family bowing their heads and giving a large sack of coins to a fat-looking well dressed king sitting on a throne. As the spell card activated, another one of the duelbot's cards started to disappear, signaling it was the higher level monster the duelbot just sacrificed.

"I wonder why the duelbot would give up a higher level monster to summon a lower level one." I pondered aloud, watching the duel.

"With the effect of Tribute to Royalty this unit special summons Balwin – Beast of the Heavens. (1700ATK/1400DEF)" the duelbot blankly stated as another card on it's possession disappeared, seeming to teleport onto the duel disk to reveal a bright blue portal in the middle of the field. I stepped back, not sure what to expect as a large human-like monster soured through the portal wings ablaze as we saw a green human-shaped monster with a bird-like head and a pair of wings for arms. The new monster cawed as it appeared on the field. "This unit places two cards face down. End of turn."

"The duelbot just used up like... all but one of the cards in it's hand." I gasped, rather impressed at this, but it didn't seem like the duelbot made much progress, as he did something with five cards which could easily be done with just three. I started to wonder what this program was up to.

"My move then!" Riley confidently announced as he drew from his deck, he examined the card he just drew and placed it into his hand, only to take another card and slam it onto a free monster card zone. "From my hand I'm summoning, Protocell – RA! (1600ATK/1300DEF)" Riley called forth as another blue portal opened itself onto the field. From it, a goo-like substance began to flow out of it and splashed onto Riley's field. The green gooey substance formed itself from a simple puddle to a full fledge shape as it twisted itself into a ball, slowing extending five limbs from itself and mimicked a human figure. The faceless green monster seemed to jiggle around like jello constantly while on the field. "Next I'm activating Protocell – RA's special ability! With it, I can-..." Riley started, but was interrupted abruptly.

"This unit is aware of Protocell – RA's special ability. Whenever Protocell – RA is normal summoned, you may draw one card from your deck and reveal it to your opponent. If this card is a Protocell monster, you may special summon it to the field. If not, you may place the card into your hand, but are forbidden from using the drawn card for one full turn." the duelbot finished in the low monotone. Riley's eye twitched, and seemed speechless.

"Um... that's correct. Anyway, with my monster's effect I draw!" Riley reminded as he assertively drew from his deck, he twisted the card sideways so both the duelbot and himself could see it. "Look at that, it's another Protocell. Looks like I'll be getting an extra monster." Riley smiled as he slammed his newly drawn card onto his duel disk. "Come on out, Protocell – RN! (900ATK/800DEF)" Riley shouted as the bright blue monster portal opened once more to have another stream of gooey substance out of it. The liquid splashed itself onto the field and the orange liquid formed itself into a ball, extending about eight or nine limbs and shaping itself into what looked like a long stick with legs growing out of it. The new monster seemed to vibrate unstably like the last and stood it's ground on the field.

"At this moment the effect of Protocell – RN activates. When the monster is successfully summoned, you select a Protocell monster in your deck or graveyard and add it to your hand." the duelbot seemed to remind. Riley's eyes widened, and scratched his head.

"Uh... I was going to say that but... yes, you're right." Riley nodded as the automatic deck shuffler in his duel disk began to work. "So with this effect I select, Protocell – SE to be placed in my hand." he announced as his deck shuffler stopped, leaving his deck still with one card extended at the top of the deck. Riley took this card and showed it to the duelbot, then placed it into his hand. "I'll end my turn with two face down cards."

"_This robot knows the effects of all of Riley's monsters by memory. Could it be that now that he knows the kind of monsters he uses... he could also know his strategy?"_

"Begin turn." the duelbot blankly said as another card flew out of it's deck slot, and floated to the front of it. "At this moment the effect of Alacar – Beast of Molten activates."

"Excuse me? I thought Alacar was in the graveyard." Riley corrected, widening his eyes trying to correct the duelbot.

"Correct. With the effect of Alacar – Beast of Molten, on the turn it is in the graveyard while another beast-type monster is on my field, Alacar – Beast of Molten (2500ATK/1800DEF) can be special summoned to the field as long as this unit skips it's normal summon this turn." the duelbot explained as the graveyard slot of the duelbot's duel disk began to glow, causing a chain reaction that would reveal another monster card portal. Within that portal crawled a huge, hippo-like beast made of stone. This stone monster can out onto the field with what looked like a mountain on it's back. No, not a mountain, a volcano. A volcano that started to spew molten lava down it's body.

Riley growled at this, and refused to let the duelbot get ahead of him. He extended his arm in protest.

"Reveal face down card! Dimensional Space Barrier!" Riley announced, revealing a purple trap card with a photo of an outer-space scene. Two planets orbited each other in this scene, and a clutter of blue squiggle lines separating the two of them. "My Dimensional Space Barrier is a trap card I can activate whenever my opponent tries to special summon a monster. With it, the special summoned monster is destroyed!"

"Yeah, go Riles!" Ryo excitingly cheered as I only watched with a grin. It appeared Riley outsmarted a computer, but as I looked over to Mr. Caven watching this all, he had a wide grin on his face.

"At this time this unit reveals the face down card, Insurance Policy." the duelbot announced in it's monotone. The purple trap card revealed itself on the duelbot's side of the field. With this trap card came a picture of a signed document with unreadable text. This document was held by a strange goblin-like creature with a wide smirk.

"Huh?" Riley gasped, obviously surprised to be stopped while on a roll.

"Insurance Policy can be activated whenever a monster on this unit's field is about to be destroyed. With it, this unit can negate it's destruction." the duelbot interjected as Riley started to snarl. I could tell Riley refused to be outsmarted, as it was the only thing he was good at.

"I don't think so Duelbot! I chain your activation with my second trap! Go, Electro Magnetic Pulsar!" Riley countered as he revealed his second face down card. This trap had a picture of an electric generator with it's tesla coils blazing with electricity and a white ring around the generator itself. "With my Electro Magnetic Pulsar, any spells or trap cards that are activated by my opponent this turn are both negated and destroyed!" Riley smirked, confident he finally outmatched the duelbot.

"This unit chains that activation with this unit's second face down card. Electro Magnetic Pulsar." the duelbot interrupted as it's second face down card with the same picture as Riley's card revealed itself.

"What?" Riley gasped, surprised at the card the duelbot was hiding.

"Oh my, the duelbot had the same card as you're friend's face down? How tragic." Mr. Caven seemed to chuckle, actually enjoying this duel.

"Wait a second, he can't do that can he? Riley's trap prevents all spells and traps that are activated from using their effects right? They're all negated!" Ryo protested. "Hey you holographic tin can, stop cheating!"

"Ryo, relax. The duelbot's move was legal." I sighed, rather disappointed that Riley's move failed. "If it's a chain activation, the last card played takes priority over all others. Since the duelbot's card was activated last, it's effect gets activated first and Riley's move fails."

As I saw all four of the dueling player's trap cards implode, the molten beast monster stayed on the field, and Riley had an angered look on his face.

"_Figures the only thing that can outsmart Riley is a robot."_

"I just can't believe that each one of them had a plan, a backup plan, and a backup of their backup plan. What's even more amazing is that the duelbot's plan worked better." I admired, stepping back and leaning against the wall as this epic battle took place. Each player had two cards on the field now. Both being monsters, but Riley's monsters were both weaker than the duelbot's.

"Alacar – Beast of Molten attacks Protocell – RA." the duelbot announced. The volcanic monster raised it's front legs and stomped them back down, only to charge against Riley's monster in a burst of rage. With a headbutt the creature shattered Riley's monster and Riley had a look of disdain.

**Riley: **3100 LP

**Duelbot:** 4000 LP

"Now Balwin – Beast of the Heavens attacks Protocell – NA." the duelbot continued as it's second bird-like monster cawed in rage and began to flap it's enormous wings in a fury. With it's mighty wind created from this fury, a whirlwind came to destroy Riley's secondary monster. With a shatter of light Protocell – NA was no more, and Riley's field was officially empty. "This unit places one card face down. End of turn."

**Riley: **2300 LP

**Duelbot: **4000 LP

"_Man, at first I thought Riley was more efficient in his way of dueling only because of the first turn. Now the duelbot is not only ahead in points, his field is filled while Riley is defenseless. At least Riley has more cards in his hand though. He definitely has that going for him."_

"Then it's my move!" Riley announced as he drew from his deck. He examined the card he drew and grinned, obviously getting a good draw. With the card he drew, he lifted it up for all to see. "From my hand I activate the effect of Protocell – AA!"

"Hm?" I groaned as I watched this happen, wondering what was to happen with the effect Riley was activating.

"Protocell – AA allows the user to discard it from your hand to your graveyard. In return, you are allowed to special summon a level five or above monster from your hand." the duelbot reported.

"_That's actually starting to get annoying."_

"That's absolutely correct. Now with Protocell – AA's effect, I special summon... Protocell – SE! (2100ATK/1700DEF)" Riley smiled as he discarded his drawn card to take another monster from his hand and slam it down. With a bright blue portal appearing in the field, the Protocell revealed itself as a gelatinous goop was spouting from the magical hole. From this cyan-tinted goop came a shape in which the liquid formed itself into. With four large limbs extended without a head, the goop formed itself into a muscly humanoid figure and stood tall on the field in front of Riley. "Next, my Protocell – SE's effect activates! You see, for every turn that Protocell – SE successfully is on the field during my main phase, it gains an Enzyme Counter!"

"An...Enzyme Counter?" I asked aloud, a little curious as to where Riley was going with this.

"For every Enzyme Counter that is currently on Protocell – SE, Protocell – SE is able to destroy one existing card on the field by removing said Enzyme Counter." the duelbot finished with a blank monotone.

"Correct! Now I remove Protocell – SE's only Enzyme Counter and destroy Alacar – Beast of Molten!" Riley started, before being abruptly interrupted by the duelbot.

"At this time this unit reveals the face down card, Counter-measured Movement." the duelbot uttered. Another purple trap card flipped itself face up as it donned a picture of several espionage-like people hiding behind a corner in the middle of a dark alley. In the dark alley was a trench-coated man walking along casually. "Counter-measured Movement is activated whenever you attempt to destroy a monster on this unit's field. With it, the card attempting to destroy this unit's monster is destroyed."

"_How did he know he was going to destroy his monster? That's insane!"_

"Not so fast, from my hand I activate the spell card... Cellular Mitosis!" Riley smiled as he slotted in his quick-play spell card and a large, green, spell card hologram appeared on his field. This hologram displayed a picture of several spore-like creatures with large mouths all floating in dead space. "My Cellular Mitosis spell card can be activated whenever a Protocell monster on my field is about to be destroyed. With it, my monster's destruction is negated and I can special summon another Protocell monster with the same name!"

With this, Riley's spell card activated, and instead of Protocell – SE being destroyed by the duelbot's trap, it was instead split in two and with Riley now having two monsters on his field, the odds were now evening.

"Alright! At least he managed to avoid that trap, and he got an extra monster out of it." Ryo cheered as he observed. I wasn't quite so sure about this though. Something about that move seemed off. After all, it was like the duelbot was always two moves ahead of Riley, so why didn't the duelbot do anything about that spell card?

"Next, now that I have another Protocell – SE, he gains an Enzyme Counter and I can activate his special ability once more!" Riley countered, pointing towards the duelbot's fiery monster "Destroy Alacar – Beast of Molten!"

With that, Protocell – SE braced itself for attack. Then, from it's chest, Protocell – SE unleashed an onslaught of gooey liquid that shot like a geyser towards the duelbot's monster. Once the liquid made impact, I heard a shattering sound. Meaning the duelbot's monster was destroyed. The duelbot seemed unfazed.

"Now with him gone, Protocell – SE attacks Balwin – Beast of the Heavens!" Riley commanded as one of his Protocell monsters too a leap into the air, causing it's liquid-like body to spread out, and as the monster landed it loomed overhead Balwin – Beast of the Heavens. As the monster fell, it's gelatinous body fell onto Balwin, crushing it instantly. With Balwin destroyed, Protocell – SE returned to Riley's field in a stream of goo.

"At this time the effect of Balwin – Beast of the Heavens activates." the duelbot claimed.

"Huh?" Riley grunted, not aware of the duelbot's monster's ability until now.

"When Balwin – Beast of the Heavens is destroyed by an opposing monster, this unit can inflict damage to this unit's opponent equal to the attacking monster's attack points." the duelbot finished coldly. As the duelbot's graveyard started to glow, a large gust appeared from it. This strong and mighty wind flew across the field to attack Riley with everything it had. With a blow of the wind, Riley was forced to take damage equal to his monster's attack points.

**Riley: **200 LP

**Duelbot:** 3600 LP

"At least the duelbot took some damage from that attack. Riley is still behind by a long shot though." I observed, not to happy with how this duel was going so far. I couldn't help but think that this duel was wrong. I mean, sure the duelbot was a perfect opponent, but it had to be beatable on some sort of level. This duelbot's level wasn't even at maximum as far as I guessed, and yet it was still beating the pants off of Riley.

"Fine, I end my turn with a face down card." Riley sighed, slotting in his face down and ending his turn.

"_Huh?"_

"Wait. He ended his turn? Why didn't he attack with his other monster? He still had another Protcell – SE with 2100 attack points of power just waiting to pack another huge punch into his life points." Ryo complained, just as confused as I was on why Riley was going easy on this robot.

"I believe it's because your friend is getting scared." I heard Mr. Caven say.

"Huh?" I asked, turning over to the president of Arcadia still leaning on the back of the wall with a look of amusement. "Scared? What do you mean?"

"Well if you two really think about it, the duelbot has always been ahead of your friend in both moves and life points. It's almost as though the duelbot has your friend's deck completely figured out. In fact, I take back what I said. I don't think you're friend is scared, I just think he's smart enough to know that if he attacks, it could cost him the duel." Mr. Caven explained, looking over to the duelbot's side of the field as the holographic robot stood there coldly and silently.

"I still don't understand what you mean Mr. Caven. The duelbot doesn't have anything on it's field now. What possible danger could there be if Riley attacked?" I double questioned, still looking to Mr. Caven for an answer.

"It's not what's on the field. It's what's in it's hand." Mr. Caven plainly said, chuckling slightly. "There's only one card in the duelbot's hand, and if you had been paying attention, you'd have seen that the duelbot has been keeping that particular card in it's hand throughout the course of this duel. The duelbot is searching and waiting for a worthwhile opportunity to play it, and you're friend is choosing his moves carefully trying to avoid the effects of that specific card. Since your friend has no cards in his hand left, he's extremely limited in the ability to counter the duelbot's moves." Once Mr. Caven finished, I realized what was going on.

"_I get it now! There's no way the duelbot would let Riley attack it directly so easily. There must be a catch to it, and the catch is that one card in it's hand. If Riley can somehow get rid of that card he'd be safe to attack. Until then he has to wait and think about his moves carefully. If he tries to do something big, the duelbot may or may not be able to activate that card."_

"Begin turn." the duelbot said in it's monotone as another card flew from the deck and floated to the center of it's chest. "From this unit's hand, this unit summons Myaka – Beast of the Deep. (1000ATK/800DEF)". From the duelbot's actions a portal appeared in the center of the field. Out of this shining doorway came forth a fish-like monster with a long, skinny, blue fin. This monster's shape was of mermaid-like origin as it's torso was shaped like a man's, but it's arms, head, and lower body were all replaced with fins, gills and scales. As this monster's fish head seemed to stare at the opposing side, it's head looked almost as blank as the duelbot's expression. "At this moment, Alacar – Beast of Molten's effect activates."

"What?" Riley gasped, stepping back a little. "Wait a second! That effect can't be activated again can it? I already sent it to the graveyard!" Riley protested.

"Incorrect. With Alacar – Beast of Molten's ability, it can be special summoned to the field while in the graveyard as long as this unit has a beast-type monster on the field." the duelbot finished.

"_You must be joking!"_

"Wait a second, that's still not right! That molten guy can't activate it's effect unless you skip you're normal summon this turn! You already used your normal summon when you brought out that fish thing!" Ryo pointed out. At this surprisingly sharp comment, I realized Ryo was right.

"Incorrect. Myaka – Beast of the Deep was technically special summoned with it's special ability." the duelbot corrected.

"What?" I questioned, not even recalling anything about a special ability with that fish monster. At least no special ability that the duelbot mentioned.

"Whenever this unit has no monsters in this unit's field, Myaka – Beast of the Deep can be special summoned to the field. Therefore, the ability of Alacar – Beast of Molten is valid."

"_Great."_

As the duelbot's fiery beast made it's second appearance so far, it's volcano upon it's back erupted, causing it's holographic lava to spew over the field.

"Oh my, this isn't good." Mr. Caven observed. "It appears the duelbot is going to synchro summon."

"Huh?" I grunted. "Wait, synchro summon?"

"Indeed. I've seen this deck used before. Myaka – Beast of the Deeps is a level two tuner monster." Mr. Caven pointed out.

"_Uh oh."_

"This unit now tunes level two Myaka – Beast of the Deep with level five Alacar – Beast of Molten." the duelbot announced with it's blank tone. With these words, the duelbot's fish-like monster leaped into the air, instantly shattering itself into two separate white orbs. These white orbs began to zip around the field until they started to revolve around the duelbot's fiery monster. With a wail of fury, the volcanic monster's body began to glow as two white rings began to form around it. From it's body came a blinding white light, and from this white light came a new monster.

"_Two plus five is a level seven synchro monster. That's really powerful. I hope Riles can handle himself."_

"Synchro summon... Harom – Beast of Fury (2700ATK/2300DEF)." the duelbot uttered. With the white light fading from the field, a new monster stood it's ground on the duelbot's field, stomping it's hooves onto the ground and yelling in anger. The new monster had the appearance of a centaur in a pitch black sort of plate armor. This covered it's otherwise bare chest and most of it's horse legs. It carried with it a sword and shield in it's hands. "At this time, the effect of Harom – Beast of Fury activates. Whenever this monster is successfully summoned, all monsters with attack points lower than Harom – Beast of Fury are returned to the owner's hand."

"What?" Riley gasped as he saw his two Protocell – SE monster cards suddenly launched upward from his duel disk. As Riley managed to catch these cards mid-air, Harom looked nearly ready to charge.

"Harom – Beast of Fury attacks directly." the duelbot commanded, lifting it's boxy arm and pointing it's square finger at Riley who was now defenseless. It was at this time the holograms of his Protocells began to disappear. Why there was a delay with the duel disk I don't know. With Harom beginning to charge with it's horse legs galloping towards Riley with it's sword raised, Riley looked like he was in a tough spot, but the first thing his eyes flew to was his face down card.

"Reveal face down card! Inharmonious Wave Motion!" Riley called as his face down card flipped upward. This revealed a purple trap card with a picture of a metronome emitting some sort of sonic frequency that could be seen through distortions in the air. With this trap activated, the centaur-like monster ceased it's charge immediately.

"Alright! I knew Riles had one up his sleeve!" Ryo cheered for his brother as he saw this aspiring play. I was pretty sure that Ryo and I knew exactly what this card did, and that's why Riley played it.

"Yeah, this should give him some time to think." I nodded. "Inharmonious Wave Motion is a common trap card that can de-synchronize a synchro monster when it attacks. Not only that, but the tuner that was used as synchro material to make that synchro monster loses it's tuning ability. This not only prohibits the monster from being re-summoned next turn, but it also forces the duel bot to rethink his strategy a little." I explained, looking over to Riley with a confident expression. He thought he finally outsmarted a machine, a fantastic achievement. Well, the thing was... he didn't outsmart it.

"At this time the secondary effect of Harom – Beast of Fury activates." the duelbot spoke in it's creepy monotone. "When Harom – Beast of Fury attacks, spell and trap cards cannot be activated until damage calculation is complete."

"What?" Riley gasped, suddenly realizing his confidence was unjustified, and his smirk quickly dissipated as his trap card was forced back face down. I thought it was totally over from there. Riley had no cards in his hand left, he was about to be decimated by Harom, and his face down card was useless. As the sword came down, it slashed at Riley's body diagonally, In defense, Riley attempted to shield himself using his duel disk. This was in vain, however, since nothing but cards could protect him against the attack.

**Riley: 0 LP**

**Duelbot: 3600 LP**

"Damn." Riley frustratedly swore as his life point counter reached zero and a loud buzzer sounded signaling the duel was lost by someone. The duelbot's holographic body lowered it's duel disk to it's side in a more passive stance. With it's eeire monotone, it spoke once more.

"Critique file saved, select yes or no to review this file."

"Critique file?" Riley curiously asked as his duel disk began to revert back to it's standby mode. The card slots folded back into a rod. This rod pivoted itself into the back of the duel disk and pushed itself through it. The graveyard slot of the duel disk ejected the cards inside of it, and closed soon after.

"The duelbot was creating a critique file while you dueled. If you wish to review it, the duelbot will rate your skills based on the match and tell you all the mistakes you made during it." Mr. Caven joyfully said as he stepped forward into the duel area and stood himself in the middle. He turned towards Riley with a friendly expression and his hands folded behind him. "What do you say? If you select no the file will be deleted and you won't get this opportunity again."

"Alright then, yes." Riley nodded as the duelbot began to process his choice. The duelbot's pixilated face disappeared from it's black screen for a head and it began to speak.

"Skill rating: 6.4. Your summoning skills are antiquate, your spell usage is below average, your trap usage is below average."

"What?" Riley gasped, a little surprised to hear the duelbot badmouth his skills as a duelist.

"You are too quick to use your resources at your disposal. From what this unit has observed you are hasty and nonstrategic. You are too quick to use your monsters abilities without realizing what could stop them. You are too hasty to use your traps at the first opportunity that presents itself. From what this unit has observed, you have regarded for the moves your opponent could possibly preform, but not enough to prevent them beforehand."

"Why you little..."

This was the first time Riley actually took criticism. I mean, he was smart, averagely athletic, and from when we watched him duel he mopped the floor with whoever he saw. I never even realized any of these flaws from the start. It was true that Riley was prepared for anything, but when his opponent was prepared for anything as well I guess he wasn't as good. His competitiveness and his overall determination to outsmart the duelbot must have blinded him to what he was doing.

Mr. Caven explained that he would be a little early to his office, so he urged us to come back at that time. However, tomorrow we had school, and I wasn't sure if coming here after school was such a good idea. Maybe it was because I was still suspicious of this "Reff Caven" guy, but I guess it was more the company itself than him. This place was so big and prosperous, and I had never even heard of it before. Maybe I was being paranoid, but something about this place wasn't right.

Anyway, Mr. Caven urged that he had forgotten about a recent meeting, and that was our cue to leave. I was still standing next to the machine that caused the duelbot to appear, and as the twins walked out the door before me, I noticed something.

"_Huh?"_

Something on the machine's screen caught my eye. It was still on and showed details of the duelbot's program. Taking up most of the screen was a list of cards that existed in the duelbot's deck. Another window showed the number of cards in the duelbot's hand and graveyard. However, there was a third window in the top right hand corner of the green-tinted status screen that caught my eye in particular.

"Duelbot set to... level 15?" I murmured to myself. I examined the screen a little further by leaning into it. The screen showed details and statistics of what settings the duelbot was set to. The number 15 flashed a bright red on screen, so I was guessing that perhaps it was the max level the duelbot could be set to. Either that, or it was just a really high level. I could have sworn I heard Riley say he wanted the duelbot set to level eight though...

_"Set the simulated opponent for level six! I don't want to start out slow, but I don't want this too difficult either on my first try."_

Ok maybe it was level six. My memory is slow at recalling that stuff, but as I remembered, I couldn't help but think that this was very suspicious. Why did Mr. Caven set the duelbot so high if it wasn't called for? Could it have been a malfunction? No, this thing was state-of-the-art. There's no way it could have malfunctioned. Only one possibility came to mind.

"_That sneaky, conniving, corporate head must have adjusted the level while we weren't looking! He must have purposefully wanted Riley to lose the duel so he adjusted it accordingly. I'll bet you anything that the duelbot's level changes how harshly it critiques people too!"_

"Are you coming, Mr. Fuki?" Mr. Caven concernedly asked as held the door open for me with the twins looking through the doorway. I immediately backed away from the terminal and started running for the exit, holding my brace steady so it wouldn't bounce around. Assuring them that I was coming, I saw Riley hugging something in his arms as I approached, and even started to speak.

"Are you sure that you want me to keep the duel disk, Mr. Caven? I mean it's so lightweight and sleek it must have cost a fortune!" Riley questioned as he held out the white and black duel disk he used against the duelbot. He held it out with both hands in a gesture for Mr. Caven to take it back, but Mr. Caven pushed it towards Riley's chest and smiled.

"Absolutely. Take it as my thanks for taking the time to come here. I'd gladly show you more of my company but I'm afraid I must be going." Mr. Caven insisted as he turned away towards the hallway. "You all know where the exit is, correct? I'd hate to leave you if not."

"No, we're alright." I insisted, trying to don a friendly tone, but was rather unsuccessful. Mr. Caven seemed to notice this with an arched eyebrow, but he quickly shrugged it off as he walked down the hall away from us. The elevator was the other way, and that's where we were headed.

Our time in Arcadia was brief, and informative, but certainly not satisfying. This was about the time I had remembered that I had forgotten to ask Mr. Caven the questions we came to ask in the first place. I couldn't help but think he distracted us with that dueling chamber on purpose as we entered the glass elevator and were on our way down. Maybe I was over-thinking it, but... no, on second thought, I wasn't.


	17. Chapter 17: Hot Ride Part 1

Yugioh: Rise of Arcadia

Chapter 17: Hot Ride Part 1

"And then she said no! Can you believe that?" Ryo uttered to his twin brother as we walked our way from school after another day. I really wasn't paying attention to what they were saying, but it was something about a trade, I don't know.

"You'd think she'd want to trade something like that. There's not much use for it in a lock-down deck." Riley replied, giggling a little like he just made a joke. I still had my mind on Reff Caven and the visit we made to Arcadia yesterday. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go back there or not, and I was deliberating whether we should or not. Maybe it would be a good idea to since I didn't get any of my questions answered the last time we were there. Then again, that man isn't to be trusted. He rigged a duelbot to purposefully beat Riley in a duel and insult his skills. Who knows what he'd do next if we went back.

As we walked into the school building, we saw at least twenty or thirty students huddled around one of the walls of the hallway. I wasn't sure what they were looking at, but I wanted to find out. As I made my way towards the crowd holding my brace, I tapped on the shoulder of one of my classmates with my free hand. His name was Leon, a guy I recognized from my strategy class.

"Hey Leon, what's with all the excitement? What's everyone looking at?" I asked in a bit of confusion with an arched eyebrow as I looked over towards the wall everyone was staring at. As far as I could tell it was empty. Leon turned over to me with his square glasses glaring in the florescent lighting, his... unusual buck teeth were a little creepy to look at as they stuck out from his upper lip.

"It's the recent tournament that's been announced, everyone is getting a flier from the stand. That's what everyone is huddled around." Leon replied in his usual high-pitched pre-pubescent voice. He spat a little in my face each time he tried to correctly pronounce the "C" and "F" sound, and as I wiped it from my face I looked over towards the twins who were right behind me. Ryo had flames in his eyes, and Riley looked at his brother in terror. He and I both knew what this meant.

"No way! The New Domino Spring Grand Prix is coming up! I can't believe I forgot about it." Ryo yelled with a passion in his tone. His eyes were glistening and his grin was very creepy. He dashed to the crowd of people with determination on his face and an aggressive stance about him. "Out of my way!" he yelled as I turned my head away from Ryo. As I did so I could see student after student fly across my face to the other side of the hallway. They all screamed. "Hey!" and "Waaa" as they flew from Ryo's charge. This is how Ryo always got during tournament season. To most people it was a fun opportunity to show off their skills and duel new people... maybe even get a cash prize in the process... but to Ryo it was another chance to show how great he was, and he would let nobody stop him.

"Oh boy, I better get my earplugs ready so I can sleep at night now that Ryo knows about the tournament." Riley sighed, walking over towards me, shutting his eyes in a sort of twitching motion as he looked towards his brother still throwing people out of his way. I still wasn't looking at what exactly Ryo was doing, all I knew was that on the ceiling I could see a male student caught on the ceiling fan by his belt.

"Mind if I borrow some?" I had to ask, finally mustering up the courage to look back over to the crowd of people... or at least what was left of them. All I could see were twenty or thirty students on the ground with dizzy expressions on their faces. A few looked like they had been knocked out cold, and one looked like he was about to cry. The only one standing was Ryo, and he held one of the fliers to his face examining it closely.

"That's amazing! The Grand Prix is only about a week from now! Why am I the last to hear about this? I thought they always planned these months in advance and announced them even earlier then that!" Ryo questioned as he stared at the colorful flier in amazement and awe. Riley snatched the poster from Ryo's hand so that he and I could see it. The flier donned a picture of a blue-eyes white dragon in an aggressive stance, and across from it was a dark magician raising it's staff up high. The poster had the Kaiba Corp. insignia on it at the top, and details about the tournament written in a white box at the bottom of the flier. Riley tilted his head slightly, and pointed over towards one part of the flier looking straight at me.

"Yo Haru, check this part out." Riley noticed, arching his eyebrow slightly and looking back at the flier. "Sponsored by Reff Caven... president of Arcadia."

"You're kidding me." I disbelievingly denied as I grasped the flier out of Riley's hands and stared at it for myself. What the brainy twin said was true. The tournament was going to be held in downtown domino which had the be the largest area there could possibly be. The bottom of the flier contained a few details about the tournament along with who was sponsoring it. Apparently the only requirement for entering was a duel disk and a deck. All you had to do was have your deck examined at the gate of downtown domino and you'd be given something called a "key card". For each duelist who entered. Apparently all you really needed to do in this tournament was to keep your key card during the course of it. What the heck does that mean?

"Well I'm not a hundred percent sure that I'm going to participate. I mean I would imagine that there are going to be a lot of pro duelists at this thing. It would probably be a waste of time to go." I sighed, shoving the flier back at Riley and continued my way to class. I had nearly forgotten that's where I was going.

"Are you kidding? A waste of time? Haru this could be the change you need! After all you _did_ make me stay up all night with you _just_ so you could modify your deck, this is the perfect chance to debut it!" Ryo disagreed, suddenly pulling me backwards by my backpack and shoving the flier he had in his hands into my face. "You could rock this tourney with that new-and-improved baby you got in your pocket!". I immediately ripped the flier away from my face and glared over at the less-than-brainy twin. A smirk of confidence on his face and a sure tone was about him. I gave a sigh at this and stared at him.

"First of all, I didn't make _you_ stay up all night, I made _Riles_ stay up all night. You know, cause he's actually _good_ at building decks. You just stayed up because you wanted to pitch all your suggestions for my deck to me... all of which, by the way, sucked." I corrected, jerking my backpack free of Ryo's grip and continuing onward towards my class.

Ryo didn't seem too pleased with this, but for some reason or another he regained his confidence and practically stared at the flier as we walked through the hallway. I couldn't help but think that I'd have to listen to him continue on and on about how _he _was going to enter and _he_ was going to win. Sometimes Ryo makes me want to hit him.

After school, Ryo felt like heading to the park for some dueling action. Most of the kids in my school go to the park if they're looking for a match. He said something about wanting to warm up for the tournament. I didn't feel the same way, so Riles and I left him to do his thing while we headed home. On the way there, Riley started talking to me about the tournament.

"Are you sure you don't want to enter? It seems like it'll be pretty big this year, and you know that we'll need someone to cheer for after Ryo loses in the first round." he asked as a light-blue duel runner zoomed by. It seemed like it was going pretty far over the speed limit, I wonder if it was running from something.

"Yeah, I am. You know there are going to be tons of pro-duelists in that tournament. There's no way I'd even stand a chance, not to even mention Ryo." I sighed, slightly annoyed that Riley was even asking me such a question. I played duel monsters mostly for the fun of it, at least as much as I could, but a tournament didn't seem all that fun to me. It only seemed like an opportunity to prove how cool you were and show off your dueling skills. That really wasn't what I thought dueling should be about.

"But I'd be a good opportunity to test-out your newly modified deck. You know you want to try it at least once. I think we made sure to make that deck a tough sucker to beat." Riley continued with a slightly devilish smile about him and a small poke to my shoulder. The one without the brace.

"_Who says 'tough sucker' nowadays."_

"I said no. I'm not going to a tournament to get my butt handed to me. Unlike Ryo, I know my limita-.."

At that moment, an explosion could be heard in our vicinity. I swear that I could feel the earth vibrate slightly, and Riley gained a worried look about him. I looked over the horizon of a hill we were walking upwards at the time. I rushed up this hill as though it were a mountain with my breath now unsettled and my feet clambering upwards trying to catch a glimpse of what that was. The explosion sounded like it was coming from up this hill, but it sounded rather far away. As I finally peeked over the peak of this hill, I saw a steady pillar of smoke only a few blocks away. Flames launching this smoke into the air and sirens ablaze. Sector security must have already gotten to the burning building by now, but for some reason I just wanted to be sure they did.

"Hey! Did you hear that? What was with..." Riley started as he tailed from behind me. Once he gazed upon what I saw, his mouth dropped and a fire-engine zoomed directly past us towards whatever was blazing.

"Are you seeing this?" I gasped as I looked to my side to only catch a glimpse of the fire-engine that rode past us.

"I am, what do you think it is."

"I don't know, but doesn't this seem familiar?"

"Sort of... but... wait, you don't think..."

"We're right next to duel highway #7, so it would make sense."

"Are you seriously going to go check?"

"I probably should."

I thought this might be familiar, I thought this might be the work of someone I had run into in the past, and I had to see for sure. If I was right, this person was up to no good and just knowing that gave me enough reason to head over to where the smoke was emitting from. I steadied my backpack and grasped onto my brace as I started to run towards this scene. A couple of Sector Security's duel runners were passing me by as I did so.

It took only ten or fifteen minutes of running and also Riley's warnings to get over to where the building was. I was blocked about twenty meters away from it by Sector Security. The green-jacketed drones appeared to be investigating the flaming building while the fire department was working on the flames themselves. Riley finally managed to catch up to me with a less-than-alright state of breathing. He panted furiously after finally stopping beside me, and waiting a moment to actually talk to me.

"Hang on a sec Haru, do you seriously think it's the same guy from before? The same guy that gave you that supposedly gave you that brace on your arm?" he slowly managed to get off his chest as he continued to huff. "What are you going to do if it is?"

"That guy just isn't right Riles. I had the chance to turn him over to Sector Security and failed. I'm not going to be able to live with myself if I see this guy again and don't do _something_ to stop him. There's just something weird about that guy man, I don't know what it is but for some reason I think he has something to do with me." I responded, watching a few Sector Security officers head into the building with oxygen tanks over them.

"_And I'm pretty sure of that, otherwise I wouldn't have seen that guy after Ryo's duel with Mina."_

I started to recall that time. The guy was standing on the glass roof of the duel dome of our school looking down on us right after Ryo had his duel with Mina. I couldn't help but think he had something to do with all of us, maybe it wasn't just me. I wanted to find out though, and I wanted to find out fast.

Sector Security seemed to be concentrated on the fire, while I was looking for something beyond that at the distance I was currently stationed. Sector Security made extra sure that officers stood by to keep civilians away from the scene at a safe distance. At least until it was safe to approach. However, as I stood with a growing crowd of people in front of the burning building... I could swear I saw something.

It was very subtle, but something on the top floor of the building seemed to break the window's frame. A small shroud of black cloth made it's way across the window's bottom and to the other side where it remained unseen. This seemed rather fishy to me.

"Wait here." I instructed Riles as I squirmed out of the crowd of people that was continuing to grow at this scene. I ran away from the building where I could access an alleyway to the next block. I was aiming to go for the backside of the blazing building where my intuition was telling me to go. I couldn't help but toss off my backpack and reach in it for my duel disk. I didn't want any more weight than I needed so I could catch this guy, and for some reason I thought I might need my duel disk.

Once I made it to the building's rear, sure enough I saw a figure emerge from the window and quite literally jump from the third floor. I thought the guy was insane, and yelled out a "Hey!" right after he made his jump. Thinking he was trying to kill himself, I tried to run over before he hit the ground. I didn't think I could catch him, but maybe if I tossed out my body as a cushion or something it might lessen the impact enough for him to live. However, this was not the case as I found this guy landing on his feet directly on the ground. I gasped in awe at this. I only saw people do that in movies.

"What are you doing here." the figure stated in a sort of half question half statement. Now that this guy was in broad daylight, I instantly recognized him to be that hooded figure I dueled during the last time this had happened. It was the guy with the obsession for fire-type monsters and burning down buildings... and perhaps spying on children for some odd reason. His black coat concealed his other apparel, but his hood was at least high enough for me to see his month move. I didn't picture this guy to have such pale skin. "Why are you here."

"Why am I here? Well excuse me for taking an interest in people's lives when I saw a burning building! Did you do this too? What did the own of _this_ house do? Steal the last scone? Bump into you at the supermarket? Steal your binky?" I growled. This guy was starting to get on my nerves. Just burning down buildings without a good reason is not cool, no matter how idiotic your neighbors are.

"This is none of your concern."

"Of course it's my concern! I'm obviously concerned about it and I _do_ live in this town after all. Tell me why you destroyed that person's home."

"They were interfering with internal affairs."

"So that gives you the right to burn their house down? Fight like a real man and sue them, not scorch them!"

At that moment, the hooded stranger unraveled his cloak slightly to extend his hand, he raised his fingers into the air, placing his index finger, middle finger, and thumb pressed up against each other. With a single motion, a sharp snapping could be heard along with the engine of what sounded like a car. Before I even knew what he had done, something was coming out from the side of the building we stood beside. By this time, some of the flames had died down and it was easier to stand next to and easier to breath.

A duel runner emerged from the alleyway as though it had a mind of it's own. A pitch black runner with a more motorcycle-like design to it. Two thick wheels suspended it and kept it from falling over. A chair-like formation was near the front of the duel runner with white seat covering. Two side bars across each side of this seat were suspended from the back of the runner to prevent the rider from falling or leaning off. What seemed like folded-up wings were near the back of this runner purely for design, not really functional. These wings were a bright orange with the tips of them designed to look all burned-off and scorched. The head of the runner had a symbol of an orange ball with squiggly lines emitting from the top of it. I was guessing it was suppose to resemble a fire ball.

"Leave." the stranger replied as his duel runner made his entrance, he immediately walked for it and the duel runner responded by lifting up one of the side bars for his accessibility. Once he was seated, the side bare lowered once more to secure the stranger inside. The stranger grasped upon two handles which where on the inside of these security bars and started to rev the engine.

"Wait a second! Sector Security still needs to deal with you! You're not leaving on my watch." I snarled as I began to run for the stranger, and promptly positioned myself in front of his duel runner. This was mostly to prevent him from escaping the back way. At least this way Sector Security would see him if he tried to run.

"What are you going to do, duel me again? That worked quite well the last time. I see you still have the injury as well." the stranger calmly responded in his eerie low voice. I started to recall the last time I dueled this guy and grasped the brace on my arm. It was starting to hurt. "If you're truly determined to help Sector Security catch me, I encourage you to do so. After all, a little target practice is required for me to keep up my strength." he smugly said in a not-so-smug tone. Even though he was mostly using a partial-monotone I could still detect the sarcasm and confidence in his dialog.

The stranger hastily began to rev his engine again and began to move backwards. Not even looking back to see where he was going as he stared at me with his concealed eyes. That alleyway he was traveling on would lead him to the barricade where Sector Security was stationed. If he went that way, he would run right into them!

"_What is he doing?"_

I heard a faint crash and ran across the stranger's route. Making haste as I emerged back at the front of the building where the stranger had apparently ran into two of Sector Security's duel runners. I just managed to catch him pulling to the side and switching gears, making his way west of where I was at using the highway.

"Hey! Did you see that?"

"What was that?"  
>"Was it the perp?"<br>"Who cares! He wrecked my duel runner!"

Sector Security were babbling amongst themselves seeming to ignore my entrance. The stranger seemed to upstage me as his act against the city was rather blunt. I looked around my surroundings feeling quite helpless. The guy was on a duel runner, how could I possibly catch him?

"_Wait a second."_

About a few yards away from me was an empty duel runner belonging to Sector Security. The helmet in it's seat and the motor still clearly running. It was a long shot, and what I was thinking was completely insane... however...

_"If you're truly determined to help Sector Security catch me, I encourage you to do so. After all, a little target practice is required for me to keep up my strength."_

Something about the way that guy said it just urged me to a point I couldn't control. I immediately started for the empty duel runner. There was still enough time to catch up to this guy.

"_I know I'm going to regret doing this!"_

I immediately swiped the helmet from the seat and pounded my rear onto the cushion. Nearly getting too ahead of myself I was about to turn the parking break off before putting on the helmet first. Riley was only a few feet away and manged to get past security's blockade through the commotion. He approached me with wide eyes and a disgruntled look.

"Haru, are you insane? What are you doing? What are you _thinking_?" he yelled in almost an angry way as he observed what I was doing. He attempted to jerk my arm and pull me out of the runner, but I pulled back with equal force and jerked my arm free.

"I _think_ I'm going to catch that guy before he decides to torch another tower."

"But you're stealing Sector Security's property!"  
>"Don't think of it as stealing..." I muttered, as I examined the runner, managing to find the gas. "Think of it as... borrowing."<p>

"Now you're starting to sound like Ryo! What's gotten into you?"

"That guy challenged me to do this Riles, I'm going to do what it takes to take him down."

"Do you even remember what that guy did to you last time?"

"OF COURSE I DO!"

I yelled this last statement of mine in a rather loud volume. Loud enough for the officers of Sector Security to finally take notice of me and Riley. The officers took only seconds to realize what I was doing, and they promptly started running.

"Hey you! Get away from that runner! That's security property!" one of the officers shouted. I immediately donned the runner's helmet and looked over to Riley. I started to unfasten the duel disk that I had on my arm. I put it there after tossing my backpack to the ground earlier.

"I _do_ remember Riles... that's why I'm doing this.." I muttered before tossing him my duel disk and hitting the gas hard, propelling me forward before the officers had a chance to grab at me. The road was only about a meter in front of me, and it took me a second to actually get into the right lane when finally hitting the road. I was going a little fast for my tastes, but I knew that Sector Security would be after me and I couldn't slow down.

"_Let's see... ruttier...gas...ignition...disk... man, who would have thought that turbo dueling course Ryo signed me up for would pay off! I think I should be able to handle this until I catch up to him. If I paid attention in class at all, all sector security duel runners have the ability to override other duel runners into duel mode. If I beat him in a duel, his runner will overload and be forced to stop. That will give sector security a chance to bust him!"_

It was a good plan, and the road was clear enough for me to keep going straight a pick up speed. Although, I swear I could hear sirens in the background. Sector Security was after both of us. It only took me a few minutes to catch sight of him, although a mini-van was blocking my way to where this guy was at. It forced me to slow down slightly and grumble to myself.

"_I should be able to override him from here."_

"Where's the damn menu." I growled taking one hand off the handles of the runner to access the interface. It seemed like the override was hot-keyed, no surprise there. "There we go!" I smiled as I pressed down on the area of the interface that read "Override" it gave me a list of duel runners in the area to choose from, and only one runner on the list didn't have Sector Security coding on it. This was the one I selected.

"Overriding suspect's duel runner. Duel mode engaged, auto-pilot standing by." the runner foretold in a feminine-sounding, smooth voice. A duel interface suddenly began to fold out onto my screen. A four by five grid began to materialize symbolizing the dueling field. Life point counters suddenly protruded from the sides of my screen and began to escalate to 4000.

"So you truly wish to do me again, am I correct?" I heard a voice over the communicator in my helmet. I had no idea this thing even had a communicator, but this made sense mostly because not only were we a fair distance from each other, but a mini-van was dividing us. I was about to respond before I started to hear sirens coming from... the street?

Transparent blockades began to appear to the side of me, bright red wording covering them donning the word "warning" these sirens made me want to cover my ears even though they were already covered by the helmet. Still, it was really surprising as I had no idea what was going on. This surprise even made me lose momentary control of the duel runner I was on causing me to zig-zag once or twice.

"Warning...warning... a turbo duel is beginning... a turbo duel is beginning. All non-dueling vehicles please vacate the combat lane immediately." another female voice called over what seemed like a loud speaker. The holographic barricades suddenly changed their wording of bright red letters saying "Turbo duel in progress" and flashed themselves at us.

The mini-van in front of me seemed to responded to this and steered itself into the holographic barricade into an alternate lane. Leaving me and the stranger face to... back. Well come on I wasn't right next to the guy, and this gave me a chance to catch up. The interface on my duel runner... well... Sector Security's duel runner started to render a map of New Domino City, highlighting roads that were connected to this one.

"Establishing duel route... duel route established. Duel runner connection established. Auto-pilot activated." the duel runner foretold as it prompted me to insert my deck. I immediately responded by reaching into my back pocket.

"_Thank god I constructed a turbo deck with Riles along with my other deck. There's no way I'd be without one after that last duel with Takuya."_

I promptly inserted this deck only for it to be vigorously shuffled by the card shuffler built into the runner. This was similar to what my duel disk had on it. It then extended a few cards from the deck slightly outward, this would be used as my hand as I took this cards and placed them into the holster lest they blow away during the duel.

"You told me that you'd encourage me to try and stop you, hothead, I'm going to make you pay for what you did to those buildings, the _owners_ of those buildings, and my arm!" I called over as soon as I started to pick up speed towards the stranger. His cloak was flowing with the wind as we ran through the road. At least the parts of his cloak that were sticking out from his seat anyway.

"And I stand by that statement, I'm curious to see if you're able to stand up to real power. After all, your strength must be determined if you are to remain of value." the stranger calmly remarked, taking the cards from his deck and placing them into his holster. He remained in a standby position looking slightly towards me. I arched my eyebrow at this, slightly confused.

"_Huh?"_

"What's that suppose to mean?" I demanded as my duel runner finally managed to maneuver itself right beside the stranger's. This gave me a better look at him. For some strange reason his hood was able to stay on with all this wind that was being blown in our faces.

"You have the first move..." he insisted as he looked back towards the road, ignoring my question. I shook this off and reached for my deck.

"Fine then!"

"Duel!"

**Haru:** 4000LP : 0 SC

**Stranger: **4000LP : 0 SC


	18. Chapter 18: Hot Ride Part 2

Yu-gi-oh: Rise of Arcadia

Chapter 18: Hot Ride Part 2

"Duel!"

**Haru:** 4000LP : 0 SC

**Stranger:** 4000LP : 0 SC

"I'll be making the first move! Draw!" I called as I reached from my deck, taking a single card and placing it into the holster. With the wind in my face and my concentration set to maximum, I examined my hand.

"_Not a bad hand."_

"I'll start things off by summoning my Card Slasher in attack mode! (400ATK/500DEF)" I called forth. A bright blue portal opened beside my duel runner as I slammed the card onto the disk interface in front of me. Out of this portal came a monster that resembled a cutlass sword with two oval-like eyes protruding from both sides of the sword. Two curly arms and two legs extended from the sword's light brown, wooden handle. As the stranger monster emerged, he drew his own sword that was nearly a replica of the one he was made out of and held the handle of it it with both hands.

"_Yep, having more than 10 monsters in a deck of 40 cards does indeed pays off."_

"It appears your arsenal of monsters hasn't improved since the last time we met." the stranger mocked as he examined my monster from his screen. My Card Slasher started to glided with my duel runner seeming unaffected by the speed we were going at.

"Looks can be deceiving hothead. I'll end my turn with three face downs." I growled back, slotting in my cards into the interface.

"My move then!"

**Haru:** 1 SC

**Stranger: **1 SC

As the stranger drew, I couldn't help but think that this might be harder than last time to beat him. I had little experience with turbo dueling despite my now appropriate deck for it, but it seemed like this guy was confident enough to keep a straight face during this duel. Which was definitely more than I could say for me due to the velocity we were going at. Needless to say it was nerve-racking.

"I'll start my turn off by summoning Dark Flame Tricky to my field! (1000ATK/1000DEF)" the stranger called forth. He lifted his arm and slammed it onto his duel disk, carrying a card with him in his hand which he slotted onto the duel disk. A bright blue portal opened beside the stranger's flaming duel runner and out of this emerged the same humanoid-like monster with a blazing orange fire for a body, and those coal-black eyes seeming to float atop it's head. The monster emerged onto the left of the stranger's duel runner closest to mine. I slightly closed my eyes at the heat the monster was emitting. This feeling was all too familiar from my previous duel with the stranger. For an unexplainable reason...the monsters seemed more real that usual. "Next, I'll have Dark Flame Tricky attack Card Slasher! Burning Cascade!" the stranger ordered. He took one of his hands off the steering of his runner and held it out towards me. His fiery monster letting out a distorted roar as it turned over towards me, reaching one of it's arms out to attack Card Slasher. Card Slasher didn't seem phased though, it was like he knew what I was planning.

"Reveal face down card! Crossing Paths!" I countered, reaching for the interface to flip my trap. As I did so, a large, flat hologram of a purple trap card revealed itself on the side of my runner. This card donned a picture of an autumn wood with two separate dirt roads parallel to each other and crossing in the far horizon. "This trap card can only be activated when a monster on my field is about to be destroyed through a card effect or through battle. With it, I can special summon a monster of the same level from my hand and onto the field!" I explained, quickly reaching for my hand and taking one of the two remaining cards from the holster. "I special summon... Card Cover! (100ATK/700DEF)" I announced, slamming the new monster onto my duel runner's interface. A bright blue portal opened beside me to cast out this new beast. From this portal, a small monster came out that resembled a bright green shield with a plus sign in the middle of it. Two eyes perched themselves on the left and right side of this plus sign and four limbs extended from the corners of this square shield. As the monster made it's appearance, it landed to the ground on one knee and arms crossed across it's shield body, signaling that I had placed it in defense position.

"Regardless of your new monster, Dark Flame Tricky will still destroy your Card Slasher!" the stranger implied continuing his onslaught.

"I don't think so hothead!"

"What?"

"I activate Card Cover's special ability! Whenever Card Cover is in defense mode on my field, monsters that are his level and below can't be destroyed by battle... and it just so happens that both Card Cover and Card Slasher are level one!" I explained as my shield-like monster jumped into action. Dark Flame Tricky was about to crash it's flaming fist into Card Slasher before Card Cover suddenly slid itself in front of the two. Dark Flame Tricky collided with Card Cover's hard shield body, and Card Slasher was safe. However, this didn't stop me from taking battle damage.

**Haru:** 3400LP : 1 SC

**Stranger:** 4000LP : 1 SC

"I'm not sure why you're trying to save that monster of yours, but it's no matter. This will end the same either way. I'll place two cards face down and end my turn." the stranger finished as my life points just got finished decreasing. Thankfully Card Cover absorbed the blow from Dark Flame Tricky. This way I didn't take too much of the damage and only got as much heat as a hot breeze. This made me feel a little more comfortable and more focused. I reached for my deck in response to the stranger's last move.

"It's my move then!" I shouted, drawing from my deck.

**Haru:** 2 SC

**Stranger: **2 SC

"_Yes! This is definitely something I can use."_

"I'll start this turn off by summoning to the field, the tuner monster, Engineer Minnie! (400ATK/200DEF)"

As I said this, I impacted the card with the duel interface to call forth another blue portal. Out of it, another small monster popped out of it. This monster resembled a miniature, cartoonish, pink-haired girl in dirty and greasy cloths. She carried a large wrench at least three or four times her size. This monster pulled up a pair of goggles that were propped on her face as she entered the field, and gave a wink as she was officially summoned.

"A tuner monster?" the stranger questioned, looking over to me as I rode along side him. "You couldn't possibly..."

"That's right hothead, it's time for a synchro! Before that though, I'm slightly short on levels, so I'm going to activate Card Slasher's special ability!" I responded. Card Slasher began to glow a bright blue, and extended it's hands to it's sides staring straight ahead with determination. "Card Slasher's effect allows me to discard one card from my hand once per turn. In return, Card Slasher gains an extra level and 500 attack points for every card I discard this way."

With this explanation, I threw out the only card I had in my hand. It was a monster card that I was planning on using later... but I had to do this first. As I did so, Card Slasher's effect activated, and another cutlass sword began to fall from the sky. As it did so, Card Slasher immediately grabbed it in mid air and used it as a duel-wield weapon. I was guessing the extra sword symbolized Card Slasher's extra level and his increase in attack points. "Now that he's up to date. It's time for a synchro! I'm tuning my level two Card Slasher with level one Card Cover with level one Engineer Minnie!"

"_Two plus one plus one. A level four synchro. Watch yourself hothead, here I come!" _

Engineer Minnie immediately responded to this and lifted her gigantic wrench up high into the air, causing her to glow and shatter leaving behind a single white orb. This orb zoomed across the field over towards Card Slasher and Card Cover, who were now huddled back to back ready for a tune-up. As the orb began to revolve around these two monsters, they themselves started to glow a similar bright white, and this light quickly turned blinding. I wasn't worried though, this duel runner was on auto-pilot and I had no fear of crashing due to lack of clear vision.

"A level four synchro monster?" I heard the stranger surprisingly asking behind this blanket of light. This was rather surprising to me too, because this was probably the first time I've heard the stranger lose his cool.

"Get ready hothead, because I synchro summon...True Tempest! (1500ATK/1000DEF)"

The light began to clear itself from the field, leaving behind it's brightness and revealed the new monster on my field. This was one of the synchro monsters I had recently obtained. Modding my deck around these little guys was paying off so far. On my field was now what looked like a miniature tornado with bright green eyes zooming across the field, using the skinny tip of it's lower-half as a means of propulsion as it zoomed along the road beside me. Outstretched from this tornado were two gray limbs which looked quite similar to arms. Claws outstretched from these arms, however, they didn't look all to threatening. This was mostly because these arms were about as small as a Tyrannosaur's. As I gazed at this majestic new monster, I turned my attention back to the track and began to speak. "Normally I can only synchro summon True Tempest with True Guard as the tuner monster. However, due to Engineer Minnie's special ability, she can substitute herself as just about any monster when she's being used as synchro material. The only condition is that I can't adjust her level by any means." I explained. The stranger didn't look all to impressed at my new card despite his surprise when it was being summoned. He simply chuckled as I spoke. "In other words, she can act as True Guard, a regular tuner, heck, she can act as a non-tuner if I want her to."

"_Engineer Minnie was a personal suggestion by Riles, and it was well worth it."_

"All that show for _that_? It may be slightly stronger than my Dark Flame Tricky, but it certainly won't help you win." the stranger implied, chuckling to himself slightly at what he thought was a joke. Boy would he be in for a surprise.

"I'll end my turn from there." I closed as I settled down slightly and prepared for the stranger's turn.

"Very well then." he replied, drawing from his deck.

**Haru:** 3 SC

**Stranger: **3 SC

"_Quick assessment. He's got Dark Flame Tricky out on the field in attack mode, but my True Tempest has 500 more points than him. However, if I remember correctly, when his Dark Flame Tricky is destroyed through battle he can summon two copies of it from his deck. He may purposefully attack just so he can destroy his monster and activate that effect. Two monsters at the cost of 500 life points. Sounds like a fair trade. Luckily though, I have a surprise of my own face down."_

"I'll begin my turn by flipping my trap card, Black Burner Cannon!" the stranger claimed as a light-purple card suddenly flipped on his field. The card wore a picture of a pitch-black cannon that was similar to the ones used in the olden days when pirates ruled the seas you know, ones that use cannon balls. It showed this cannon firing off a pitch-black cannon ball and a flame burning behind it. As the card activated, the trap seemed to materialize a cannon similar to the one on the card through itself. You know, as sort of a "portal" animation. As the cannon appeared on the stranger's field, a arched my eyebrow slightly worried as to what that thing could do. I definitely didn't want to find out, but I think I was about to. "My Black Burner Cannon is a trap card that can be activated when I have a 'Dark Flame' monster on my field! With it, I can place one cannonball counter on this card for every 'Dark Flame' monster I control. For every cannonball counter, I have the ability to increase the attack points of my monsters by 500!"

"_That doesn't seem too threatening. Even with 500 extra points True Tempest is still an even match for Dark Flame Tricky... unless..."_

"Oh no." I gasped, suddenly realizing what this guy's strategy was. I turned over to my monster who seemed to be staring at Dark Flame Tricky.

"Now my Dark Flame Tricky will now attack True Tempest!" the stranger commanded. Dark Flame Tricky immediately responded with a distorted roar and an anger in it's body language. It crouched down and reached over for True Tempest, attempting to launch a punch at it.

"_Even if Dark Flame Tricky attacks and both are destroyed, he'll just summon two more of them with it's effect! Not only that, but with Black Burner Cannon on the field, they'll get 500 extra points for every one of them on the field. 1000 plus 500 plus 500 more... that's 2000! Heck, even if I counter and destroy his Tricky I'm still doomed! After all, the battle phase won't end just because his Dark Flame Tricky's are special summoned."_

"If this attack goes through, I'm in for 4000 points of damage. I gotta think of something." I muttered to myself, examining the field, looking for a loophole.

"_One of my face-downs is the 'Will of the Underdog' trap card, but that only works if the monster that's attacking has a higher level than mine! Dark Flame Tricky is level two, and my True Tempest is level four! The other face down that I have left won't help me in a situation like this though, and there's nothing in my hand at all!"_

If I didn't do something fast I was in for a lot of trouble. Not only would Tempest be destroyed, but his other monster would as well, which would trigger the effect that would take me down. There was nothing that I had that could stop him either... unless.

"_Maybe it's not what I have... it's what I DON'T have!"_

"That's it!" I fathomed, suddenly realizing a counter-strategy to my opponent who was quickly trying to finish me off. With the wind blowing in my face, I looked over towards the stranger and extended my hand towards him. "Hang on hothead, from my graveyard, I trigger the effect of Apprentice Gardna!"

"From your... graveyard?" the stranger questioned, looking slightly confused by this move I was attempting to make. I could feel a smug smile on my face, and as I glared at the stranger with fierce determination and new-found confidence, I continued explaining.

"I can only activate the effect of Apprentice Gardna from my graveyard when my opponent launches an attack. With it, I can special summon him in face up attack position from my graveyard, afterwards, I have to remove him from the game at the end of the turn."

As I spoke this, the graveyard slot in my duel runner began to whirr and buzz as though a machine inside was working it's magic. After only a moment a monster card popped out of this slot. As I took this card I noticed it was Apprentice Gardna, the card I was speaking of moments ago. I quickly placed it onto the interface of the duel runner which summoned another blue portal to my side. Out of it, came a larger monster than my previous few. It was a rather bulky human being with two small shields at his wrist that barely covered them. He donned dark-brown leather armor and a viking helmet with a long, brown beard. As this happened, he charged through the portal and onto the field, eventually coming to a gliding stance beside my runner. (150ATK/2050DEF)

"_I discarded Apprentice Gardna when I activated Card Slasher's ability a few turns ago. I was planning on using him for defense, but this will do too."_

"That pathetic excuse for a monster is your defense? What a pity, I thought you were going to counter my attack." the stranger chuckled to himself, I could only laugh too, because this guy knew nothing of what I was doing.

"I _am_ going to counter your attack...with this!" I started, going for a button on the runner's interface to spring my trap. "Reveal face down card! Will of the Underdog!"

As I sprung this trap card, a large, flat hologram revealed itself beside my duel runner in a flash of white light. On it, was a picture of a large pile of roman gladiators. All appearing to be either injured or dead. Atop this pile was a smaller, skinnier, less muscular man with nothing but brown clothing, a cutlass sword, and a small, round, wooden shield. "My Will of the Underdog is a trap card that can target a monster on my field. With it, only that monster can be attacked by my opponent, and once per turn, when the monster this trap is targeting is being attacked by another monster with a higher level, I can destroy the attacking monster along with this trap card!"

"What?" the stranger gasped, he didn't expect this type of move from me, and it didn't appear he could do anything about it. That is, so I thought. "Very well then, I reveal my trap card! Go, Incineration!"

"Huh?"

"Incineration is a trap card I can trigger when my monster is about to be destroyed through an effect. With it, I can destroy the card that's about to destroy my Dark Flame Tricky, and you take damage equal to Dark Flame Tricky's level multiplied by 200!"

As the stranger did so, a trap card revealed itself onto his field. A photo of a black silhouette burning alive inside a large, blue, flame was placed on it. As the trap activated, it released a large burst of flame directed at the trap I just triggered. As the burst of fire collided with this trap, it created an explosion that caused my face to feel like it was blistering. I immediately shut my eyes at such heat, and groaned as my skin was irritated. The sheer explosion of the card forced my duel runner slightly to the side. At least I was using auto-pilot, because I couldn't help but think I would have crashed.

**Haru:** 3000 LP

**Stranger:** 4000 LP

"Now that your trivial little trap is destroyed, Dark Flame Tricky continues it's attack on True Tempest!" the stranger reminded as he commanded his monster to continue his onslaught. Dark Flame Tricky continued to attack with it's flame-comprised body and it's 1500 points to back it up. With another distorted roar, it unleashed another powerful punch our way.

"_I didn't want to use this right now... but..."_

"I activate True Tempest's special ability! Once per turn, during the battle phase, True Tempest has the ability to half the attack and defense points of a monster that's currently battling!" I announced, gesturing towards the miniature tornado that was trudging along beside me on the road. True Tempest looked over towards me with it's bright green eyes and then over towards Dark Flame Tricky. With it's effect, it leaped into the air using it's cone-shaped body as a spring. Then, with what looked like a large inhale made by True Tempest, he unleashed a gust from his metaphorical and perhaps non-existent mouth. He continued to keep this up as Dark Flame Tricky made it's way towards him. "Dark Flame Tricky's attack points are 1500, which means he's reduced to 750 points as he attacks True Tempest." I explained, not really smiling like I always do when I outsmart someone in a duel. "In other words, True Tempest survives and Dark Flame Tricky is destroyed."

As I muttered this, True Tempest's gust blew away Dark Flame Tricky and slammed him into the pavement with his mighty gale. This caused Dark Flame Tricky's body to rupture and give off a tiny explosion as he was destroyed.

"_Damn! I didn't want to use that effect because I didn't want to destroy Dark Flame Tricky through battle. However, I need True Tempest for his ability for later. Mostly because I know this guy is going to bring out some stronger cards."_

"At this time, the effect of Dark Flame Tricky activates. Whenever he's destroyed through battle, I'm allowed to summon two more copies of Dark Flame Tricky from my deck." the stranger repeated. I already knew this effect, but for some reason the stranger felt the need to repeat it. As he uttered this, two new blue portals appeared on the pavement we were racing across. With a boom as though a firework had been launched, the portals released two bursts of flame which took humanoid shapes as they lowered themselves to the field. Two coal-black eyes opened themselves up and a gruesome hollow mouth followed for each one the them. "Next, the effect of my Black Burner Cannon activates! For each 'dark flame' monster I control, they gain 500 attack points!" (2000ATK/1000DEF)

"_Double damn! This is why I wanted to avoid it's destruction through battle! I knew Black Burner Cannon would power those things up the moment I realized Dark Flame Tricky's effect. If only I could figure out how to get rid of them both... or at least destroy Black Burner Cannon."_

"I'll end my turn from there." the stranger closed.

"My move then! At this time, the effect of Apprentice Gardna activates and he's removed from the game." I started. As the large, viking monster did so, a large, black hole appeared below him, and forced him into it with a sort of vacuum-like method. As Apprentice Gardna fell to who-knows-where, I continued my move.

"_Sorry Apprentice Gardna, you were for nothing."_

**Haru:** 4 SC

**Stranger:** 4 SC

I immediately drew from my deck hoping for a ray of hope. I needed a good card in my hand as my current hand was completely empty.

"_Yes!"_

"I activate the Speed Spell – Angel Baton!" I announced, playing a green spell card with the picture of a solemn angel gesturing a small green crystal towards us. Partial sadness and partial relief covered this angel's face. "This speed spell can only be activated when I have two or more speed counters. With it, I can draw two cards from my deck as long as I discard one card from my hand afterwards." I explained, using this opportunity to draw. The card shuffler already extended the top two cards of my deck for me to grab easily. I took these cards and separated them slightly to see what I had.

"_Oh THIS is good..."_

I only had two cards by this point, so I had to discard one of them that I just drew. That was ok though, one of these cards _belonged_ in the graveyard. As I discarded one of these cards to the graveyard slot of my duel disk, I positioned the other card I drew into the holster.

"If you think any number of cards will help you at this point, I'm afraid you're terribly mistaken." the stranger mocked. He was so sure of himself by this point, and this was new to me. The stranger I dueled before was so calm and collected. Now he was just hotheaded. No wonder I call him that.

"At this time, the effect of Card Trasher activates from my graveyard!" I smiled, ignoring that remark the stranger said only moments before my move.

"Card Trasher?"

"That's right. The card I discarded to the graveyard just now was Card Trasher, and thanks to his special ability, whenever he's sent to the graveyard through a card effect, I can special summon him to my field!" I explained as the graveyard slot of my duel disk ejected the card I just fed it. I gladly took it back into my hand and laid it down on the interface. "I special summon... Card Trasher! (200ATK/500DEF)"

A bright blue portal opened on the pavement beside me, and out of it came the monster I just got back. Card Trasher had the appearance of a large, gray, trash can with two eyes mounted on the side of it's body. Four limbs extended from the sides and bottom of this can and extended outward as Card Trasher made it's appearance.

"That pathetic excuse for a monster won't help you much. It doesn't nearly have enough strength to take on my monster!" the stranger implied as he turned back to see my new monster. Card Trasher held a solid fighting stance as it glided along my duel runner, it's eyes slightly squinted and focused on something in front if it, whatever it was I'm not sure.

"This pathetic excuse for a monster is going to give me a little boost, because at this time, the secondary effect of Card Trasher kicks in!"

"What?"

"When Card Trasher is brought back from the graveyard by his own effect, he can special summon an additional monster from my grave that has the same level he has! Come on back, Engineer Minnie! (200ATK/400DEF)"

As Card Trasher's effect activate, it took one of it's sketchy limbs and used one of them to open up the lid of it's trash-can body. Out of it, came the monster I was attempting to summon climbing out of the can and touching down on the ground. Engineer Minnie managed to climb herself out of my odd-looking monster, but after she did, it appeared she realized she forgot something and went digging through Card Trasher's body once more. After this, she managed to pull out her gigantic wrench which she didn't climb out with before. As the effect managed to resolve, Engineer Minnie gave a wink and glided herself over to the other side of my duel runner, carrying her wrench with both arms wrapped around it.

"_Engineer Minnie is a tuner monster, and thankfully, Card Trasher is a level one dark-attributed card. This will be great!"_

"At this time, I'll tune my level one Card Trasher with my level one Engineer Minnie!" I announced, raising my hand into the air and pointed my index finger towards the sky. Maybe I was trying to be dramatic, I didn't care, all I knew is that I was about to bring out something I knew would work against Mr. hothead here.

Engineer Minnie immediately responded to my words, and zoomed in front of my duel-runner to lift her huge wrench straight up into the air with a large, cheerful smile on her face. She began to glow a bright white, and shattered to leave behind a single white orb. This orb whipped over to Card Trasher who glided himself over towards the orb, and as this spherical bright light began to revolve around him in a sort of ring motion, he began to glow a similar shade as the orb. With a blinding light, I couldn't help but don a devilishly clever smile. "I synchro summon... True Horn! (0ATK/0DEF)"

The light that blinded the two of us quickly faded, and beside my duel runner ran a magnificent and majestic new monster. It depicted a large, majestic, albino rhinoceros with pupil-less, soulless, unforgiving and furious eyes. Shining silver braces covered most of it's legs as it ran across the pavement along side me, and as I saw it, I couldn't help but smile. "True Horn can usually only be synchro summoned when I have True Guard as the tuner monster and a dark-attributed monster as the other material. Luckily, Engineer Minnie's ability allows her to act as True Guard and Card Trasher is naturally dark-attributed."

"_I've been waiting to bust this particular one out. He's got a special ability to knock hothead's socks off."_

"Reveal face down card! Molten Chain!"

"_Wait... what?"_

I heard this sudden move abruptly as the stranger flipped a trap. It was a purple trap card with a photo of one of those ball-and-chains you know, the ones that you normally stick around a person's ankle when they're in prison. The ball-and-chain in this picture was red hot, like it was just in a furnace or pored down with molten rock. "My Molten Chain trap can only be activated when my opponent summons a monster in attack position. With it, that monster's attack points are reduced to zero and it cannot attack or change it's battle position." the stranger explained. The trap card began to glow a red similar to the chains on it's picture. Large iron chains abruptly shot out from the card directly at my monster which was charging forward slightly ahead of my duel runner. As it did so, True Horn struggled against these chains which inevitably managed to tie him down. It didn't impair his ability to run, but the chains were tangled and scattered around his body which only slightly restricted his movements.

"_I don't understand. True Horn doesn't even have any attack points to begin with. Why would hothead tie him up when there's nothing to tie down? Unless..."_

"He knows about his special ability." I answered to my thoughts aloud, but just quiet enough so the stranger couldn't hear.

"_How is that possible though. I mean it's obvious True Horn has some kind of ability with his attack points so low, but how exactly did he know how to cripple him."_

I didn't know and I didn't care. All I knew was that albino rhino on my field was the only thing I had to take down those two monsters of the strangers which were now at 2000 points. But now... now he was tied up in chains and basically useless. It couldn't attack, it couldn't change to defense mode, it couldn't do anything but sit there and wait to get destroyed. It was true I still had True Tempest on my field, but that wouldn't help me much. His special ability is to half the attack points of a monster once per turn. That wouldn't stop me or True Horn from taking damage. With only a miniature tornado and a tied-up rhino to protect me, I had to think of something.

"_My last face down."_

I had forgotten about it up until this point. I had only used two of the three face downs I threw down during this entire duel, and I saved that last one for an emergency. Maybe it could get me out of this jam. Maybe, just maybe, it could help me win. I would stop at nothing to be sure hothead was caught by the cops, and I would pull every trick I had.

"Reveal face down card!"


End file.
